The Syndicate
by Nuclear Burp
Summary: AU, FutureFic. Once there was a woman, now there is only HARUNO, lost in a tide of international mind-crimes and power struggles. In this world, there is only one goal: Global Dominance through Urban Violence.
1. Abduction

_Credit to Kishimoto and the staff of Bullfrog. Dedicated to that awesome antique game: Syndicate. Truly awesome.

* * *

_

In the city of magnets, life was surprisingly quiet. There was no sound of cars, no screeching of tires or the blaring of horns. Occasionally there would be the noise of air rushing out of the way as the maglevs pushed their passengers back and forth, and sometimes there were the faint poundings of footsteps, but other than that the streets were silent. At this time of night, not even footsteps could be heard as people hurried back home, away from the danger that came in the form of vicious punks and Maraudering Zealots and something even worse, something whispered behind hands and never spoken aloud.

The young woman mused that this was definitely not a good thing when her best friend was supposed to pick her up for the late-night shift at the medical labs. It was a habit of sorts, he would claim to 'be in the neighbourhood' and invite her to hop in for a quick trip to the facility. Every day at nine PM, without fail.

She didn't think it suspicious, her friends were strange like that. She knew them from preschool, most of them, and this one had a habit of being stranger then most, but from his blond hair to his odd whisker marks (He claimed he got them on his O.E to the Atlantic accelerator) she wouldn't change.

Still, he was late. Very late. And she could swear that in the distance, the sounds of a riot were beginning to flow over the rooftops, getting closer all the while. A siren from a Police-lev screeched past her as she waited in the plaza, she felt to scratch the back of her legs, feeling the chill over the late evening bite through her casual attire (Thank God for Fridays!).

"Hmmmm… Damn, where are you?" She groaned, looking around for any tell-tale signs of purple caps or floating robes that signified the city's less than desirable folks. There were none, but she felt that it might be a good idea to start walking anyway, this was a dangerous place to begin with, and she couldn't shake this niggling feeling that…

_Huh, a mag-car started up._

… She was being watched. And now this stupid thing's headlights were throwing her shadow all over the sidewalk.

_Why isn't it on the road?_

--

"That her?"

"Yup."

The figure in the shotgun seat watched the young woman blink in the glare of the headlights, green schematics scrolled along the left side of the windshield as the scanner confirmed her details.

**Target readout: **

**Height: 183cm**

**Weight: 63kg**

**Age: 19**

**Gender: Female**

**Specialist skills: Unconfirmed.**

The figure in the passenger seat typed in the information that he had gather in the time that he had known the woman. The mask he wore over his mouth pulled in and out through his lips, tasting of toughened rubber and leaving a foul presence on his tongue.

His companion in the driver's seat sighed, and gripped the wheel, glancing at the instruction box on the right of the windscreen.

**Specialist Skills: Medical history, unknown mental drug levels, resistance to CHIP calls, shown acuity in R&D deployment.**

**Processing…**

**Processing…**

**Processing…**

**Subject deemed suitable for recruitment.**

"No…" The first figure groaned, smacking his head into the dashboard, giving it a few thumps. "Please, just delay it, delay it delay it delaydelaydelay…"

The driver grimaced, pulled up its mask, and took a closer look at the woman who had begun to walk away.

**Acquire Subject.**

"Sorry, Blondie." The driver sighed, hitting the accelerator.

--

She didn't hear anything, so she normally wouldn't have noticed the sudden burst of speed from the mag-car. Even then, she wouldn't have paid any heed, since Maglevs couldn't operate on the footpath, only on the designated roadways.

But the car's headlights were moving, the shadow in front of her lengthening and strengthening as the vehicle put on the speed.

_Oh Shit!_

She dodged to the right just as the vehicle arrived, clipped on the hip and crying out as agony sprung from her legs. She looked over, one of her limbs was bending strangely from the knee and she felt her stomach heave as the shock provoked her adrenaline to kick up her digestive processes.

"What are you doing?! Get her in the car!"

She saw a pair of feet hurrying towards her prone form, felt the strength leave her body as pain began to overwhelm her muscles. She gave a faint whimper of defiance as she was picked up and slung over a shoulder, the hard impact sending a fresh wave of pain up her spine. The quick jerking as she was carried back to the vehicle only aggravated her suffering, as was the fall onto the hard seat in the back.

"Sedate her, Naruto."

"N-… Naruto?" The woman gasped as a needle found her neck, trying to see his face in the gloom of the compartment. The face that turned towards her was shrouded in the shadows, but a passing streetlight illuminated his face, the whiskers hidden by the rubber mask that reached to the top lips, but the blue eyes and blond hair hidden under the red cap.

"I'm sorry, I really am, but either you come with us, or I'm dead by tomorrow."

"She in?" Came a woman's voice from the front, the sound of gloves grinding a rubber fold squeaked in the silence.

"Go."

"Setting for gate 4."

The little conversation ended, with Naruto feeling along the supine Woman's hip, trying to locate the break if there was one.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because they need you. _He_ needs you."

"You're not making any sense… AH!! OhgodgodgodthatHURTS!!" She cried out as he clicked her knee back into position, devolving herself into sobs as the intense torture broke down her bewilderment.

"I'm sorry."

She continued to cry as the car made little swerves, moving through the streets to an unknown destination. After a few minutes, when her frantic little breaths and heaving stomach had calmed into one giant body ache, she picked out the one thing that seemed strange, out of place.

"Why don't you call me-" She started, until his hand covered her mouth roughly and pushed a small cube on a handle into the CHIP at the back of her head.

"You won't know what your name was once the process is finished. There's no point."

"What-"

"I really am sorry, but there isn't any other way."

He pressed the handle, and the world went black.

--

"Are you alright, Naruto?"

Naruto jerked out of his half-slumber in the back seat, checking again to set the Woman's vitals with a guilty expression.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." He mumbled, trying not to appear too concerned.

"Oh, for… Look, it's fine to feel a little ashamed. I don't like it any more than you do, but if we're going to finish off the Syldavia institute…"

"Bio-weapon, yeah, I get it." He groaned, "She was looking to improve the Melanoma treatment, get stuck in to the Immunity chip… Now she's going to be killing people by the beaker."

"Life, Naruto, bites ass." The driver looked to the right, the left, and continued down the straight in the intersection, Naruto bracing the unconscious woman so that she didn't fall off the seat.

They drove on in silence for a few minutes, before the constantly flickering light through the window told the Man that they had entered the industrial section. He reached into his heavy coat and withdrew a pistol, holding it to his side and looking fervently out the window. The schematics on the left of the windscreen turned into an overhead view of the sector, complete with crowd indicators.

"Epoch church gathering twelve blocks up, taking a right through Versailles."

"Got it."

The car banked and went down the new route; Naruto's eyes didn't leave the schematic.

A red blip appeared on the far right of the square map, slowly moving to intercept the route proposed in blink grey lights for the car. Naruto cocked his pistol and kicked the Driver's chair.

"Got an Agent!"

"Which Corp?"

"Can't tell."

"Probably got a Cryo-mod on the neck, be careful."

"Always."

Naruto's implants gave him an idea of just how much he could take, but even he didn't know just how well he could handle the slam of the road.

That didn't stop him securing Sakura on the bottom of the car with special straps installed in the legspace, kicking open the door and jumping out of the moving vehicle to roll against the glass surface of the magroad.

He withdrew a scanner (Thankfully resilient enough to survive the rough treatment) from the depths of his coat, activating the beam sight of the pistol and giving a salute as the car drove by in the opposite direction, feeling himself over for any external scuffs on his suit.

He tapped the side of his ear, activating the piece and connecting him to the car.

"Bastard still moving?"

"_He's going down the side alley by Antarctic and Raison."_

"Got it, moving to intercept."

He looked around and spotted a fire escape, held ten feet above the ground by a metal latticework. He ran underneath it, strangely mobile underneath his thick clothing. As he stood beneath it, he gave it a cursory lookover, clapped his hands together, knelt down and…

One minute he was crouching, the next he was gripping to the ladder and climbing faster than anything on two legs. Within the space of a few seconds, he was overlooking the street with his pistol aimed down the right side of the road.

"In position for an ambush, the bastard on track?"

"_Tag is still on. He has an active jammer on, so I'm assuming he's attempting a frontal sneak shot."_

Naruto cursed, and thought about his next step.

"Why are we hiding from a single agent again?"

"_The guy could be packing anything from a Minigun to a Laser to a Gauss Launcher. A good hit from any of those and we're all dead."_

"Couldn't we take another route?"

His earpiece rumbled from the laughter.

"Okay, maybe not."

Another minute passed.

"Ooookay, you should see him… now."

Naruto kept his eyes open and scanned the smattering of people walking in the later hours of the night. It was easy enough to spot the Agent as he moved, the massive trenchcoat, the white eyes, the orange cap and its unnatural stride made it stand out like a cyborgic thumb. The fact that people were avoiding it like the plague was a clear giveaway.

"Target in sight, siming local."

Naruto looked through the reflex sight, aiming for a spot just to the right of the forehead as the agent turned perpendicular to him.

"Fire. Fire. Fire."

There was a crack, and Naruto felt his shoulder jolt from the recoil, watching the cyborg fly off its feet from the heavy caliber slammed it into the wall opposite, a chunk of flesh and metal hanging limp from its temple. People began screaming and running from the street.

"Got him."

"_About time. Get your ass back to the car, or you can hop yourself up on adrenaline and run back. Your call."_

"Eh, I'll… hang on, is the threat bleeper still up?"

"_Yeah… why?"_

"Why isn't it off? I popped that guy in the head!"

"_Until the battery on his back dies, he's going to be registering."_

"Ah, fuck it."

Naruto knew that he should have finished off the Agent, should have been professional about it, shouldn't have let the knowledge that he was currently responsible for the ruin his best friend's life was going to become destroy his personal ability.

He only knew this after the Agent screeched back into life, with a bullet in its head and an arm jerking into life, withdrawing a tube rocket component and sticking it into another tube on his shoulder. One button press, a shriek from the crowd, and a grenade fired out from the tube and smacked into the building opposite.

--

"Naruto? NARUTO!!" The woman in the car screamed as his beacon flickered. She looked over at the girl in the back, breathing a tiny sigh of relief when she turned back to the screen and found that the Agent's red circle had vanished.

"The way is clear. Hang on, Naruto…"

She pushed into her earpiece, "You guys getting this?"

"_We're sending a recovery crew now, you primary objective is to bring the Scientist back to Headquarters."_

"Got it, make sure you get him back for us."

"_His vitals are still up, but… injuries… a lot of injuries."_

"I understand. Just save him."

The car spurned itself to life, towards the final objective.

--

_I think she's waking up._

_Jack her up with some more anesthetic, then!_

_What's the progress like?_

_We're starting to mod her CHIP right now._

"Mah… my neck hurts…"

_Why hasn't anybody knocked her out?_

_Wait… theeeere we go._

'Mmmnyugrh….'

_Excellent. Now, how's our other client?_

_He's sustained damage on…_

_--_

_Son of a bitch, she's up again!_

_It must be the neuron anomaly that UZU-MAKI found out about._

_Can't risk another dose, her heart will start arresting._

_We've just finished on her memory augmentation; all we need to do is use the suggestion virus._

_Right. HEY! DOES ANYONE HAVE A PERSUADER? Yes? Oh, thanks. Heeeeeere we go._

There was pain in the back of her neck, then white light. Once again, the woman lost consciousness.

--

It woke up.

It just felt… strange. There was no past, only a present. No memory, only a hint of mists. It knew about the human body, strangely. Muscles and brain and organs and nerves all bundled up into flesh, all controlled by things that couldn't be seen and barely moved…

It was all she knew, the human body.

She? Human?

How did she know these things? What was… who was…

"Here, drink this."

She slowly opened her eyes, groaning at the bright light that shone through the window. Around her were metal bulkheads and medical apparatus, everything rusty and damaged in minor ways, but otherwise clean and serviceable. The voice came from a young woman looking at her from huge concerned brown eyes with her equally chocolate hair held up in two buns.

"Hey, you'll be a little starved for nutrients after the augmentation, so you'd best drink up." She said, pushing forward a steaming mug towards the patient in the bed, who was still groaning from the light.

"Yeah, we had to analyze your eyes to check your compatibility with the retinal implants. They're a little weak, but you'll find you can see better in no time."

"I feel sick." The woman shivered, trying not to focus on the bile rising in her stomach.

"So did I, but it gets better. And from what I've been told about you, you're going to get over it even faster. Ah, and the name's Tenten."

"Been told…?" The woman let the question drop as she drunk the hot drink slowly. It tasted of honey, a little raspberry, lemon…

"Tenten? That's… a nice name."

"Ain't it?" Tenten smiled, "I got it three days after I was taken into the fold. For my accuracy score on the combat test, I got a Ten-"

"-Out of ten, huh? Wow." The woman nodded, drinking a little more.

"Uh… close. Ten Thousand out of Ten Thousand."

"Sppppppffft! What?" The woman cried as she sprayed her drink over Tenten's simple suit, apologizing profusely.

"It's fine." The brunette sighed. "I got so good at aiming and firing that I wasn't allowed to be put on the field, so they have me here working on weapon designs and modding. I think you're set up to be working with me for a while, so I'd at least better get to know you, eh?"

"Oh… thank you. My name is…" The woman blinked, feeling the odd sensation of her thoughts suddenly clearing out.

"Don't bother, they wiped you of all your personal memories with a Hippocampus tracer. You're one of us, now."

The other woman paused, looked up at the other person, and waited for a full minute.

"I think I'm supposed to feel angry, but I don't."

"Yeah, that's because you don't know what you've lost."

"Isn't this a crime?"

"They don't call us black market organizations for our tax-evading bake sales."

"Oh. Is it safe?"

"Probably. Anyway, you keep drinking, I'm going to grab your co-workers." Tenten smiled as she went out the bulky metal door, "And welcome to the clan."

The woman blinked, and finished off her tea, placing the mug on the floor and wincing at the unexpected strain it put on her body. She twiddled with her thumbs for a few minutes before the door came sliding open again.

First came in a blond-haired young man, a sad smile on his face, although the lines of his cheeks and forehead indicated that he smiled a great deal. This wasn't one of those times. His left arm was in a sling, and he moved awkwardly, like his legs had been injured or his knee had been twisted. Small bandages swathed his form like a mummy that was used for toilet paper. A sticking plaster over the brink of his nose made him look absolutely comical with everything else on him.

After him, fusing over a dressing on his back, was a dark-haired woman with a gentle countenance and a look in her eyes that screamed 'Devoted nurse', although the lack of a pupil inside her lilac irises told Sakura that something was not all natural about her. She tittered over the blond man, who laughed as she whacked his shoulder for moving his broken arm. As he kissed her on the hand in thanks, bending in a silly fashion to catch it at her side, she blushed a furious shade of red and let the other person in.

Tenten followed, shutting the door.

"Okay, the others are a little caught up in things, but these guys are here already. As you know, I'm Tenten, and I was the one who brought you in here. This here is, according to the suits, the Universal-Zealot-Utility and Machine-Augmented-Killing-Instrument, or UZU-MAKI. He's our resident Guinea-pig." She laughed as she pointed to the blond, who only shrugged and declaimed "Call me Naruto."

"Oh. Nice to meet you, Naruto."

"You too." Came a sad reply, the dark-haired woman patted him on the shoulder.

"This bad boy got into the history books by taking a full Kinetic-Yielding-Untested-Unproven-Ballistic-Integrator into his body. Naruto here is the only guy so far who can contain KYUUBI."

"Tenten, gimme a break and stop speaking the crap about my little mod." Naruto huffed, scratching the back of his head.

"Right. Exhibit B is, once again according to the suits, the HYpercharged-Uniform-Unit-for-General-Acquisition. HYUUGA. Had a couple of kids come in from after we iced their parents, and we tested out our first bunch of ocular implants on 'em."

"Tenten, please." The HYUUGA sighed, "My name is Hinata. It's good to know that I won't be the only one working on Project Fanatic. But we really need to get Naruto back into bed, so could you…"

"I don't mind." The woman smiled, but Tenten bared the door before Hinata could drag Naruto out the door.

"Hinata, he can't go. He knew things."

"He's not supposed to be-"

"Hinata, _he knew things._" Tenten raised her eyebrows in a meaningful fashion. Hinata looked at Naruto who gave a small smile and looked at the woman. She turned to follow his gaze and gave a tiny 'Oh' as realization dawned.

"I'm sorry, is there something wrong?"

They all turned to look at the woman, and sighed.

"Okay, we might as well tell her her name, it's the least we could do."

Hinata nodded, and pulled a chair out of the corner, sitting on it with a graceful movement and holding her hands together.

"You… have a strange resistance to the CHIP, we'll tell you more about that later, but we also… took you in… because we need your expertise in human anatomy and process on a project. The head decided to name you Human-Anatomy-Research-Underneath-Nominal-Organization, or HARUNO. It doesn't matter what your name was, that's what people will call you."

"They're bastards like that." Naruto laughed, sincerely this time. "So you'll want to get yourself a name."

"Doesn't matter what it is." Tenten added, "We just looked out to the windows after we checked. I saw my test results from the police academy, Hinata saw Naruto's face and hair while she was still hopped up on stims and kept saying 'I'm in a sunny field! I'm in a sunny field!" once she saw the hair."

Hinata hid her face in her hands, HARUNO tried desperately not to giggle as Naruto chortled along.

"Naruto here saw a bunch of fishcakes that somebody had left out from their shift. That's our names, find yours."

HARUNO looked around the room and tried desperately to find something that stood out. She didn't want to be anything but…

Wait…

"Are you guys here to stall me?"

She got three sets of 'Huh?', but eventually Hinata conceded that yes, they were stalling her until the rest of the team walked through.

"Okay, so… you lot are decoys, right?"

Naruto nodded his head from side to side and muttered a 'Yeah, I guess.'

"Okay… decoy… decoy… hey, I've got it! My name is Sakura!"

Hinata moved her eyes to the top of her head (At least, it looked like it. The lack of pupils made it hard to tell) and mouthed it out to herself, testing the sound of it. Tenten shrugged, and Naruto looked downright puzzled.

"Doesn't that word have a homonym to go with it? Blossom or something?"

"Blossom? Ew." Tenten stuck out her tongue, "I like Decoy better. It's noble. Sakura it is!"

Naruto reached inside his hospital gown with a cheeky grin and withdrew a bottle of Cognac (Much to Hinata's dismay) and pulled the stopper as Tenten grabbed a few glasses from a serving cupboard. As the crystal brimmed with the alcohol, the four of them chinked their glasses in unison and wished the newly named Sakura health.

"To Haruno Sakura, the latest installment in our little family."

"To Sakura!"

"To… me." She laughed.

The door opened again, and a man in a tight suit and a grim expression walked in the room. Sakura's first impression was this: While the others seemed to be bumbly business types, this man obviously had no fun whatsoever to be shown. Eyes like shields, cold and metallic and unyielding clashed against her own. Black hair, darker than coal, more lustrous than soot looked to melt the world around her, the lines under his eyes made her wonder if he killed people to sleep. Did his face even move?

And the smirk. Oh gods, the smirk. She could feel the arrogance of this man, and her eyes still weren't yet fully focused.

"Ah! Boss!" Naruto sprung to his feet, "We were wondering if you were going to show up!"

"That's enough, Uzumaki. Everyone, get out."

Muttering apologies, the rest made their promises to meet up again after the little 'chat'. Hinata stayed by as if she wanted to say something, but a hand on her shoulder and Naruto's shaking head convinced her otherwise.

Now, Sakura lay back in her bed, watching the silent man.

"Haruno, I give you two choices. You work for me until I let you go, you will work hard, you will work despite petty moralisms, not caring for others but for your work. You will not rebel, you will not scheme, you will not do anything except what I tell you. Fail me in that, and you will be assumed to have chosen the second option, where you die a miserable, humiliating death."

His voice was low, but there was no menace. Sakura realized that there was no need, something tiny in his tone promised the death more assuredly than the words he used.

"Which will it be, Haruno?"

"The one where I don't die sounds nice."

"Very good. My Name is Uchiha Itachi. You will refer to me as 'Sir'. You are now an employee of Eurocorp, a large organizational front dedicated to our monopolization of the CHIP system. You will bear witness to killing, torture, suffering untold, but you will not disobey."

Sakura blinked.

"That is all."

He got up and walked to the door, the three others nearly fell to the group as they backed out of his way.

"Miss Haruno?" He asked, not turning.

"Yes?"

"Welcome to the Syndicate."

--

_Well, that was an interesting experiment. I've no idea whether I should continue it or scrap it. Any ideas? Suggestions?_


	2. Indoctrination

"So I see you've met Mr Tua." Naruto rolled his eyes dramatically once they were sure he was out of earshot, "I'll never forget the first time he yelled at me, thought I'd be shitting marbles for a week, the nervous twitching was that bad."

"Tua?" Sakura questioned.

"Thermometer-up-ass. Living here gives you a knack for acronyms."

"Ew…" Tenten pulled a face, sitting at the end of Sakura's bed. Hinata silently shook her head from the side and gave the rookie a quick smile.

"I… don't think I want to be here. I want to go home." Sakura mumbled, mostly to herself. She could almost feel some kind of belonging, here, but… _that man._

"Sorry, Sakura, but he meant it when he said you would die." Hinata held her hand, "We've seen what he does to people who betray the organization, he straps them to the device and then… well, I've heard it's like a thousand hours of dying in three minutes."

"How do you know?" Sakura was slightly skeptical at the information. If you died going through that machine, or at least went insane, you wouldn't be able to tell anybody, would you?

"He tested it on Sasuke; poor bastard was a completely different man after that. I mean, his own brother… can you imagine? I don't… oh, sorry." Naruto had a grim look on his face, but snapped out of it when Hinata began to tremble. She calmed, reassured him that she was fine, and went off to make another round of Tea.

"Yeah… we've all got problems, here. Some of them we left behind, others we made up ourselves, like Shino." Tenten told her, frowning at the absent-minded fumblings Naruto was making with his bandages while his nurse wasn't looking.

"Injecting his body with Nanobots was entirely his choice, Tenten." Hinata spoke up from behind a little stove with a kettle.

"You have to admit, though… he's a little strange." Naruto spoke up, trying to hide the adjustment to his sling behind his back.

"He's simply quiet. Now, if you continue to ruin my dressings, I'll have to put fresh lime juice on the next set." Hinata gave a cross look to the now bashful man, "And don't give me the puppy face, I'm immune to it… by… now…"

Naruto had looked up to her during the telling off and had apparently taken away all the stops on his 'obnoxiously cute' setting. The vulnerable posture, with his shoulders hunched forward a little and his hands together on his lap, coupled with a wobbling lower lip and big 'Can I has Cheeseburger nao?' eyes, had many different effects on the three occupants.

Tenten gave a suspicious little cough that sounded like 'Manwhore, manwhore!' and waggled her eyebrows at Sakura, who was torn between emptying her mouth, emptying her stomach or just laughing her ass off.

"Hiiiinata… I just wanted to scratch it a little…" Naruto crooned, oblivious to Tenten's stage whisper of 'Can't you two get a room already?' and Sakura's laughter snorting as it escaped through the hand she had clapped over her mouth. Hinata turned a marvelous shade of crimson, further deepened at Tenten's snide remark, and furiously bustled back to boiling the water, which suddenly demanded extreme attention.

Perfectly natural, of course. The water might… well, the kettle could… actually, it was the stove top. It could explode, or start crawling with AIDS. Hinata had to watch it very closely to ensure that it didn't do either.

Sakura opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again.

"I like this place already, Dinner _and_ a show."

The doors opened again, and the first thing that came into Sakura's head was _There's far too much blonde in the room!_

Two young women, followed by another older, extremely well endowed woman in body armour made their way through into the recovery room. All of them had varying shades of gold and yellow and one of them had a smile that looked entirely too fresh for the morning or whatever the time was.

"Mornin', Musketeer!!" She cried, hopping onto the bed and causing twin squeaks of alarm to sound from Sakura and Tenten, "Must say; I ain't never seen no-one with pink hair before!"

Sakura tried to breathe, what with the blonde's rampart energy to comb through her hair for any suspected regrowth forcing her chest in direct proximity to her face.

"Temari, she isn't a visitor, you can drop the act." The older lady sighed, giving an apologetic smile as the enthusiastic visitor got off the bed. "Sorry about her, she's either going through intel drug withdrawal or she had to go street for more recon."

"I'm _fine_, Grandma." The newly named Temari growled back, Sakura noted her insane hair from the back, a set of four ponytails in a clover pattern. "I did it so the idiot would make a dick out of himself." She thumbed at Naruto, who was currently sporting a mild nosebleed from the Breasts/Face collision. "Anyway, it's nice to meet ya, kid. Judging from your report, I think we'll get along swell, yeah? Name's Temari, the oldie is Tsunade, she's the only actual medic on the team, and Miss Tail-and-bangs is Ino, our brain specialist, pity she can't perform it on herself."

"I'd practice on you, if you had something to work with." Ino shot back, smiling at the banter. Naruto quickly excused himself, not willing to be caught in the crossfire. Hinata and Tenten tried to put themselves at as much distance as they could, with the pupilless girl hiding behind a chair as she set the kettle down.

"Girls, please. No killing each other until _after_ we take over the world." Tsunade sighed, holding out her hand to Sakura. "We're here to give you a tour once you're well. But I reckon we can give you a nickel job if you're up to it. Or would you rather like us to tell you the basics?"

Sakura took the hand, giving it a tentative shake. "Another hour and I think I'll be fine. My body is weird like that."

"Right, well, let's start from the beginning…"

--

The year was 2018, and mankind had really screwed things up. The Earth was in a bottleneck of resources, and human greed had tipped the scales in favour of self-extinction. Wars began over trivial things like boundaries and quota rights, but escalated over Fresh water, land and even solar angle for the electricity panels. By 2020, the world had become a battleground; the crust was pockmarked with craters, disease and famine stalked the seven continents and claimed all they could.

Some scientists in Greenland, however, had made a strange discovery just as a new philosophy was made. If one could convince a man, they said, in that he had everything that he could ever desire, he would not war nor envy for the best in quality. One could serve him rusty water, so long as it was clean, and he would drink it like finest mineral springwater if you could convince him so. Production could support the world if people didn't always want the best, yes?

The question arose as to how. Mass-hypnosis was not an option, and coercion led more often than not to outright rebellion. No, within science and biology and computer advances a cure to the instinct of man was found, a remote chip installed in the neural stem that intercepted the inputs of the five sense and converted them into more favourable outcomes. Simply dubbed the CHIP, the scientists found that one could create a virtual simulation of a city or township where the person lived, and control him via the means of the CHIP to act in harmony with the others that he knew.

By 2023, the CHIP was finally in supply to the ever-growing world population. By 2024, the last vestiges of human wealth were spent on installing and integrating the CHIP into human society, relying on the giant floating MITEs, or Mass-Illusion-Transmitting-Emulators to guide the populous.

Surprisingly, it worked. Humanity had learned to do with less, so long as they could carry on the fantasies worked inside a tiny square of silicon.

Eventually, the corporations that owned and marketed the chips became targeted by various criminal organizations. It came to note that the corporations had basically taken over the normal spheres of Governmental duty. For extra 'Rehabilitation fees', or simple taxes. A corporation supplied water, shelter and the basics of life to the controlled civilians.

A bribe here, an 'Unfortunate accident' there, and the corporations found themselves in the hands of criminals, using them as a front to carry out their activities. Due to the dissolvement of the traditional governmental structures (Nobody cared, anyway.), the boundaries of nations vanished, replaced by new ones, ones created and maintained by the influence controlled by the Syndicates.

In 2050, the last government collapsed, destroying all possible armed resistances against the black market.

To expand and defend their territories, the Syndicates utilized a variety of Cybernetic enhanced humans named Agents. Men and Women in good health were kidnapped, sedated and placed in the mysterious Leonardo device, having their CHIP modified to take direct orders from a Syndicate-controlled MITE.

They were coated in bullet-resistant rubber polymer, given a few cyborg operations (If they were lucky) and sent out to mindlessly perform the will of the Syndicate. Controlled with the aid of Adrenal stims, Perception-altering drugs and semi-autonomous brainwashing, they could move three times faster than the average human, perform feats of impossible strength, and could take heavy rounds to the chest with low effect.

"Which brings us back to you. For whatever reason, you saw the world as it was, as do the rest of us." Tsunade nodded after accepting yet another cup of tea (And pouring a liberal amount of rum into the bargain). "Difference is, we had to have our chips remodded before that happened, yours just happened naturally, and there wasn't anything wrong with your chip that we can perceive."

Ino piped up after discontinuing her glaring contest with Temari, "That could mean that you're not only immune to the illusion, but you could also have a resistance against the Persuaders. I don't think I need to tell you how valuable that is."

"Ino, she's been mind-wiped." Tenten reminded her.

"Fine. Persuaders are tools that destroy the 'mercy' of implanted chips, overdrugging the brains of those affected and causing them to be completely susceptible to suggestion. They effectively lose their free will. Not only that, but persuade enough civies and their chips will work together to overload the security around higher chips, like policemen, guards… eventually other Agents. If you're resistant, you'll be a harder person to capture, and we may be able to place you in recon, since your resistance would make interrogation tricky."

Ino gave out a little breath, "Too much talking… sorry."

"You finally reached your yakking limit, huh? Never thought I'd see the day." Temari smirked, and the glaring began anew.

"Well, that's the lowdown on us so far. Think you can stand?" Tsunade smiled.

"Yeah… yeah, I think so." Sakura groaned, pushing herself from the bed. She shivered a little as the warmth left her, but Tenten pulled a rumbled suit from underneath the bed and handed it to her, coughing meaningfully and leaving with the others as Sakura began changing out of her ward shift.

After a little confusion regarding the stockings (At least the skirt wasn't _that_ short.) and some serious frustration concerning her high heels (_Much_ too tiny.), she let herself out of the bleak little room.

What greeted her were the others, standing around in a bleak little corridor. Lights flickered down each end, the door behind her read 'Meat storage 7', which didn't reassure her.

"Heh, sorry about that." Temari laughed, noting her disapproval, "We're out of paint."

"Shall we be off? I think you'll need to learn about the facilities." Hinata gave a serious look towards the others, "And I think we all have our projects to work on, yes?"

"Personal or otherwise." Tenten sniggered along with everyone else at that remark, triggering the now famous Hinata-blush. Huffing indignantly, the dark-haired woman tugged Sakura along, bracing her when the heels started to jam in the pits in the metal flooring.

"What was that about?"

"I… they… they always tease me about a guy I like." Hinata sighed, "They mean well, really they do, but I just wish they'd stop… I mean, I'm _this close_." She held up a forefinger and thumb together, "Just another week, I swear, and I'll ask him out, but do they care?"

"It makes you wonder why he hasn't noticed; you kind of wear your feelings on your sleeve, from what I've seen." Sakura noted as they took another turn, the sign overhead reading 'Caution, uncyrogenical Agents present. Have your ID ready.'

"Cryo?"

"Agents have to be kept in deep-freeze when they aren't in use. Saves wear and tear." Hinata answered promptly, using an Access card on a side panel. A section of the wall slid out, revealing a clean and well-equipped room filled with electronics. A large man with red hair was busy tinkering with a massive gatling gun on a lab bench; the barrel was easily half his height.

"Chouji, this is Sakura, she'll be working up at the Medical labs from now on."

"Hmmm? Oh, excellent. Be a doll and hand me a seven-callibre shell, would you?" The man grinned with his eyes closed, pointing to a different bench covered in ordinance. Hinata tossed him the explosive bullet and he caught it with a little flourish, winking at the Pink-haired newbie.

"We talked about him before, remember? Our Heavy-Weapons specialist?" Hinata pursed her lips and tried to recall actually telling her that. "Oh, we didn't. Still, Chouji, Sakura, Sakura: Chouji."

"Pleasure." Chouji laughed, picking up the massive weapon without so much as a grunt of effort.

"Holy shit…" Sakura breathed as he moved the piece of hardware over to the next bench, where a firing simulator lay hooked up to a processor and monitor.

Chouji noticed her stares and thumbed his chest proudly. "Pretty cool, huh? I've got a full chest augment, with arms and legs setting at tech three. I could carry seven of these bastards, easy."

"Doesn't it hurt?"

"No idea, they put you in Cyro for the operation, the body doesn't reject mechanical implants, but they're so intimate with the structure that you gotta stop the system while they work it in."

Hinata gave a little cough, pulling Sakura away, "Sorry, Chouji, but she has to meet the boss, just thought I'd drop by."

Chouji waved them off as the door slid back, Sakura giggling a little. "So, was that the guy you like?"

Hinata gave a start, "What? No! Not Chouji! I mean…"

"Why not? He seems like a cool guy, and he's got all those improvements…" Sakura nudged her new friend, slyly conveying the possibilities.

"Yes, I know, but… I mean, I might have done, but no… not Chouji." Hinata gave a sad little smile, "He doesn't have the energy. He makes you happy, but he doesn't make you laugh. Not like him."

"You sound like you worship the guy."

"Who?"

"This 'him'."

"I…"

Hinata avoided the question by swiping her card and opening an elevator booth, pressing number 224 and settling against the metal bars inside.

"Wait, haven't I already met the boss? That dark-haired, sleepless weirdo?"

"No. That was _The_ boss. You're meeting _our_ boss." Hinata explained, "We're only a small part of the Syndicate, of Eurocorp. Our executive is the one we get our orders from."

The journey continued on in silence, unbroken by anything but the sound of straining metal from the pulley system.

The door opened out into a small square room that had the air of a reception.

Except for the two figures in Trenchcoats with shotguns aimed at their faces, Sakura could have been forgiven for thinking the atmosphere was welcoming. The gun-totting Agents were truly something that sent creeps and chills running around her body. The dead-white eyes, the false-red hair, the fact that she could see scars running all over them from the implants they'd received.

"**Sta**te your **purpose and **name." One jerkily ordered, its voice dropping and rising unpredictably in a mechanical whine.

"HYUUGA Twelve. Here to represent HARUNO One. Presenting Identification now." Hinata spoke in a drone, offering her access card. The Agent looked at it, eyes flashing red.

"**Accepted.** Ple**ase Proceed towards** door."

The door opened, revealing a much larger room bathed in a mild green light. The two walked through, waiting for the Agents to put their weapons away.

There was a desk, but the view was that of a dead city. There was no smoke, but there was no life, no sound coming from the rolling metal landscape. There was a man at the chair, swiveled so that he was facing away from them.

"Sir Sasuke, I've brought the new recruit."

Sakura walked towards the desk, until she was standing right at the edge of the pseudo-wooden platform, waiting for the dark mop of hair to acknowledge her.

"Excuse-"

He spun around in his chair; she saw the red eyes, the cruel and handsome face, and the slim, filled plains of his body. She wondered why she was taking so much in at one time. And then she saw the gun.

It was pointed right between her eyes. No wonder her body had gone into sensory overdrive.

"Good Afternoon." She heard him say in a maleficent tone.

He pulled the trigger.

* * *

_Now then, what next? Suggestions are appreciated... and kindly review. More reviews, more updates._


	3. Absolution

_Click._

For a good few seconds, there was no other sound, no other echo. A tiny _chink_ came afterwards as the pressure was released, repriming the hammer on the pistol. Sasuke's eyes had yet to blink as he watched a bead of nervous sweat roll down Sakura's forehead.

Hinata's quick breathing was a background to the hum of the new convert's heart. She resisted the urge to swallow, to breathe a sigh of relief, to do _anything._ This was a test, it had to be; if this man was anything like the figure that came into her ward before, she had no doubt as to her eventual fate if she failed.

Swiftly and with a grace that told of many years of handling such weapons, the executive holstered the gun and gave her another look, more to appraise than calculate this time.

"You did not flinch or attempt to dodge. Either you are very, very slow; or you are very quick at analyzing small details. Convince me of the latter, and you live." The man spoke softly, slowly, like every word was a thing to be savoured and sampled at will.

"No magazine." Sakura choked out, mentally shaking herself, "I mean… I know firearms well enough to know that they're useless without ammo."

The pain came from nowhere and everywhere. One second Sakura was standing with her hands by her side, the next saw her sprawled on the floor with her hands clutching the left side of her face where a gash had opened over her cheek. Hinata moaned in sympathy, hurrying to her side with a fresh set of bandages.

_Was she expecting this?_ Sakura wondered through the swimming miasma that was her head.

She opened the one eye that wasn't swelling shut to watch a hand slip the gun underneath his coat again, the handle slicked with traces of her blood. She hadn't even seen him withdraw and swing.

"Your first instruction: Any weapon is a weapon, regardless of its ammo. A sling can kill as well as a nuke, the only difference being how you use it." Sasuke had turned away from her to look out the window, a view filled with smoke and shadows and deadly darkness. His silhouette seemed to complete the picture, something somber and ruthless and utterly…

_Alone._

Sakura didn't try to move, she could only wonder what had possessed this man to take the position. Something didn't seem right. _He_ didn't seem right. He had looked at her once, and then he withdrew into the lightless corner, almost like he hated the sight of humans…

"Hinata, get her out of here. She will receive instruction tomorrow on the project." The outline's head moved to face her from the corners of his vision, "Give her the usual routine… and an explanation."

"Yes… sir." Hinata hesitated, sliding an epidermal patch underneath the fresh cloth covering a part of Sakura's face, the green eye slowing losing their throbbing under the absorbed painkillers that went through the skin. Feeling the Hyuuga's hand wrap an arm around her shoulders, Sakura leaned her weight into her and slowly pulled herself to her feet.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah… yeah, I'm fine…" Sakura coughed, swallowing the blood that escaped from the inside of her mouth. Her teeth were fine, but she had sliced open the inner cheek when the pistol butt had knocked into her teeth. She didn't dare spit, the executive seemed the anal-retentive type, but nobody liked a soiled carpet.

They waited until they were back in the elevator before Sakura could muster the breath to speak up again.

"That… _that_ _Son of a-_" Sakura started, but a blinding movement from Hinata had her mouth muffled by a callused hand. Holding a finger to her lips, the white-eyed girl pointed to a mic hidden in a corner of the elevator. She mouthed _later_ and started her own conversation.

"Mr Uchiha is a very pragmatic man, so I apologize for his unusual actions." She stage-whispered, giving a shy wink.

"Oh, that's fine, he hits like a girl." Sakura rolled her eyes at the recording instrument, "And who says that chivalry is dead?"

"…" Hinata hung her head in frustration, "I meant that he only hit you to-"

"-Make a point? Bull. That was a 'Me in charge' smack, is his position shaky or something?" Sakura cut in, thinking quickly about the possible reasons.

"N-not that I'm aware…"

"Then he's not used to dealing with humans?"

"Sakura, perhaps it's best I showed you what happened to him." The white-eyed girl sighed, closing the door as it opened at their floor. A gruff man with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth could be seen grunting in irritation through the crack as the elevator stopped and continued.

"Sorry, Asuma!" Hinata cried out as the door shut fully, pressing a button for a sub-basement level. A mumbled 'Don't mention it' could be made out from the other side, cut short as the metal container dropped.

They continued in silence for a while, until Sakura spoke up again.

"Is he always alone up there?"

"Who?"

"That anal guy."

"Sasuke? Every time I've seen him, yes. Why do you ask?"

"Hmmm." Sakura pursed her lips together, "Trying to figure out why he's so nasty, I guess. Terror tactics, harsh punishment…"

"He's a higher-up in a Super-tech mafia, what do you expect?" Hinata huffed, but her indignation went on pause as the door opened out into a bleak, metal corridor. The two walked out, the smells of expensive motor oil, hot rubber and a tinny aroma assaulted their senses. The floor was uneven, the ceiling dripped and the walls were covered in grime.

"Torture chamber…" Sakura let slip as she stumbled for the third time, her shoes unpleasant to use in the dim lighting. _At least they weren't high heels._

"Close enough." Hinata nodded, "Please stand back. These Agents are extremely touchy." She pointed at the end of the corridor, where a massive bulkhead was being guarded by four Agents, their trenchcoats looking bizarre in the low lighting, a cross between armour plating and lace.

"HYUUGA twelve, here to present HARUNO one for instructional touring. This is an unscheduled visit, please attain acknowledgment." Hinata spoke quickly, her eyes nervously darting to the unslung miniguns hanging from the backs of the cyborgs.

"**Process**ing."

"Second request, wish to determine next engineering process." Hinata continued. Sakura's eyes had been slowly adjusting to the gloom, and she noted that the bulkhead had 'LEONARDO' painted on in a light shade of blue.

"_Processing._" Responded a different Agent. Sakura had a feeling that this one was female, the tone was lighter, even through whatever the hell had happened to their voices.

A few seconds passed, the pink-haired woman straining her ears to catch any sound of a modem.

"**Re**quest One, **Grant**ed."

Hinata breathed out, a sad smile on her face, "Just as well we haven't given you anything solid to eat."

"_Re_quest _Two, granted. Next Inauguration_ is in _two minutes._"

"Oh? We got lucky… I guess." Hinata shuddered, taking Sakura's arm and walking her up to the giant seal. There was a mechanical whirring, a series of _thunk_s and a slight shock through the floor as the restraint rods fell out of the mobile wall.

Jerking slightly, the bulkhead split in two and withdrew into the walls around it. The interior beyond it was simple, with a large metal ring held in the centre with a large number of computers hooked up to it. To the right, pressed up to the side were a series of reclined pods that had a sheen of frost over them, the air stunk of something unpleasant as a draft blew through the corridor.

Something musky, sweet and sickly, like the smell of…

_Carrion._

Sakura felt her stomach heave, but continued on to the large cube-room, sitting at a computer terminal in front of the ring after Hinata pointed to it. Her guide then moved into the seat next to her and started up a screen, staring at the information presented before her once the screen booted up.

"Broke her leg, noted bad vision… oh…" Hinata paled, "This may be a little extreme."

"What? What is it?" Sakura paused in scouting the room to try and get a view of the blue text.

"They're going to replace her limbs."

"That's a good thing, right?" Sakura mumbled, before the sounds of a struggle came down the corridor, the bulkhead had remained open the entire time. A young woman, restained by two Agents, was being walked down the metal length to the cubed room, kicking out with her good leg and trying to give a rough time.

Unfortunately, her blows were not enough to get her any purchase. She caught sight of Sakura's confused expression and pleaded out.

"Please! Don't let them take me! I have children!! Please?! PLEASE!! MY CHILDREN!!"

One of the Agents at the door unslung its minigun and pointed it square at Sakura, the barrel spinning.

"**Do not **assist **the fe**male."

"MY LITTLE GIRLS!!!" The woman cried out, her writhing and twisting actually starting to have some effect on the massive machine-men.

The agent on the woman's right pulled a little cube on a stick, a spark jolting something at the back of her neck. Her struggles ceased, and a blank look appeared in her eyes as the persuader wiped out her will.

Sakura felt her stomach heave again, actually bending over in a dry gag as a little liquid forced its way up her throat. She wanted to move, wanted to help so badly, but some kind of terrorized fascination kept her in her seat. She gazed to her left, where Hinata was gently sobbing into her shoulder.

"I-… t-they did this to my mother…" Hinata choked out when she noticed the attention. "Don't tell a-anyone, please…"

Sakura gave a tiny nod, and turned back to the woman. The agents had quickly stripped her of her clothes and thrown them into the corner closest to the partition, leaving the woman hunched on her knees in front of the ring.

The screen in front of Sakura flickered into life. The words 'LEONARDO device activated.' Burst into life and held themselves there.

Something insane was happening to the woman, her hands and feet glowed grayish-pink before she was levitated by something invisible into the slots around the ring. Spread-eagled, Sakura saw the resemblance to the drawings by the Renaissance genius.

The screen showed some new words. 'Subject anatomy correction procedure in place. Scanning.'.

A red line of beams hovered around the woman's broken leg and eyes, before disappearing again.

'Generating replacement limbs.'

Sakura watched with horror as a large half-cylinder rotated into place above the right leg, clamping with the other half on the other side around it. A circular dome whirred and spun at the apex of the woman's thigh, making grinding and buzzing noises as it slowly worked its way down to her feet. There was a continuous splattering sound somewhere underneath the floor, and a fresh wave of nausea attacked Sakura as she realized just what that was.

_That's her leg being liquidified!_

The computer gave a beep, and the cylinder retracted to reveal a shining silver leg in place of the flesh and blood.

The woman's eyes had gone open, held there by the same pink-gray aura. A pair of giant needles extended from the top of the ring, swiveling a few times to calculate the distance towards the woman's orbs.

'Generating replacement eyes.'

The needles stabbed down, and that was when Sakura blacked out.

--

_What the hell do you think you were doing?_

_I'm sorry, Tsunade! How many times do I have to say it?_

_You let Hinata go alone with her up to the executive's office! You know what that man is like!_

_She handled it, Granny! She just got spooked when they watched the Agent-creation!_

_You shouldn't have let her go there!_

_I didn't know she was- hey, Sakura, you awake?_

"Mmmnnnnn…" Sakura groaned, opening her eyes. "What happened?"

"You passed out. Fair's fair, I did the same." Naruto's cheerful voice and outline could be easily made out, who else would wear an orange suit?

_Wait, how do I know that?_

"You dinged your head when you fell off the seat. You'll have a lump, but the scans show your brain didn't take any unnecessary knocks." Tsunade told her, "Hinata wanted to say sorry in person, but the science team called her back ten minutes ago."

"How long was I out?"

"Best part of an hour." Naruto nodded, and indeed; the sky outside was beginning to darken with red.

"That lady… she had kids."

"The Syndicate will take care of them. We're not entirely heartless." Tsunade patted her hand, stopping at Sakura's angry expression.

"I can take care of myself."

"I'd noticed." Naruto chuckled, before slapping a hand over his own mouth, his expression was worried.

"You barely know me, idiot. Don't judge my character just yet." Sakura's words were clipped, but her tone was warm. "So, why am I here?" She asked, trying to push all thoughts of the modified woman from her head.

_What do they mean when Sasuke went through that? He seems fine._

_In the body, I mean. Fine body._

_Ack! I mean, his body is healthy and supple and not made of metal! As far as I can tell! And I'm not going to inspect!_

Shaking her head, Sakura was able to catch the last few words of the explanation.

"… In the butt."

"I'm sorry, what?"

Naruto pouted, "Weren't you paying attention? You're going to be working on a bio-weapon for project Fanatic with the rest of the team, like Granny, Pineapple, Mousey and Loony-bin."

"Who?"

"Myself, a lad by the name of Shikamaru, Hinata and Karin." Tsunade carried on in a bored tone.

"Yeah. Now we're going to have to acquire a few specialist items, so you'll be expected to go on a mission and shoot a few people to get them." Naruto shrugged, "Don't feel bad for them, they're druggies paid to go NATO and shoot anyone that gets close. We'll outfit you with some decent armour and give you some training, but I'll be doing most of the grunt work."

"Can't you send the agents?" Sakura didn't like the sound of anything to do with firearms, especially after the whine of the spinning barrels in the Leonardo room.

"They wouldn't know what to pick up, and they're a little too conspicuous."

"Oh."

"And whatever you do, don't stay back in the debriefing to talk to Sasuke, the guy acts like he has a nasty pill up his butt."

"I'd noticed." Sakura pointed to her damaged eye, only to be pleasantly surprised when she found that there wasn't any swelling.

"Yeah, Hinata told me about that. You're lucky, he shot me in the leg." Naruto grinned, "Stung like a crack-addicted wasp."

"Anyway, you'll need some rest." Tsunade got up, "I'll see you tomorrow, Sakura." She opened the door, gave Naruto a nasty look when she caught him staring at the strained fabric around her enormous chest, and closed it.

"I can never figure out if they're real or not." Naruto laughed, until the door opened again and his mirth died instantly.

Sasuke was standing in the doorway, a complaining Tsunade behind him, staring directly at the green eyes of his newest employee.

"Get out." He jerked his head at Naruto, who stuck out his tongue and joined Tsunade outside, brushing against the Uchiha's shoulder in passing.

As the two stared each other down, he reached for a chair and sprawled backwards across it, arrogantly lying against the pseudo-wood of the furniture.

"I've come to make you an offer, and no, you cannot refuse."

* * *

_The next chapter will involve a lot more action and a lot less of the yakky yak. More plot will be revealed, and we begin to see a little more of the cast and Sakura's unusual brain._

_More reviews = Faster update. Suggestions, likes, dislikes and preferences are desired as well! Help me, people!  
_


	4. Interrogation

_Whoa, fair bit of reviews. Here's the next update! Thanks to everyone who reviewed! You made this chapter faster to write!  


* * *

_

"_Please _don't tell me this isn't one of those 'Do what I say or Die' kind of offers..." Sakura sighed, tired with all the instant no-warning-given proposals.

"Very well." The executive said, crossing his arms. They continued like that for a few moments, Sakura staring at the expressionless face and trying her very best to put him at his discomfort. The man simply leaned a little further back into his chair, taking a tiny needle from within the confines of his cloak and injecting the contents into his left wrist. Sakura noted the faint red blemishes that told of constant skin penetration or perhaps an old burst vein on the limb.

Either way, the way his hand twitched after the needle was removed didn't leave her feeling all too happy being left in a room with a homicidal druggie.

"So..." Sakura trailed off, unsure of where to begin, "... why aren't you talking?"

"You said not to tell you. I like to think of myself as a compassionate employer." Sasuke smirked, one hand listlessly waving as it hung over the back of the seat. Sakura rolled her eyes, it looked like this guy was the kind of person who took things literally in order to create a series of unfunny jokes.

She vaguely wondered if her past life sucked this much. Hopefully she'd had a boss who didn't _blow like a Greek whore._

"Of course; with a pistol-whip like yours, it makes you wonder what people did before Human Resources ever came around." The new recruit shot back, the arrogant man in front of her beginning to seriously tick her off. "I don't like your tone, _boss._" She all but spat, cheering herself inside her head when she noticed the way his face suddenly reached into a frown.

"I think you overestimate your usefulness to this organization, HARUNO." He said in a soft, unfeeling voice. "Do not think that your... differences... are in any way unique forever. We can learn your secrets underneath a scalpel, in the Autopsy lab-"

"Fuck you, suit." Sakura let a note of satisfaction enter her voice, "If I was expendable, I wouldn't be here, would I?"

"Your co-operation is the only thing that makes you worth more alive than dead."

Sakura halted in her tirade, running a hand through her pink hair in aggravation. "Fine, what's this offer?"

"I'm glad you asked." Sasuke closed his eyes for a second, there was a sound of an electric hum in the background before his arm stopped twitching and his lids opened again. Gone were the black eyes of his brother and himself, in their place was a red iris with three rotating pupils on the edges.

"Sweet jumping kangaroo shit..." Sakura hissed under her breath, feeling something draw her unwilling stares deeper into the mesmerizing gaze of the Uchiha. Her mind felt a faint stab of drowsiness before she shook her control back into place. The executive gave a grunt and a tiny shudder before the pupils stopped rotating and his attention focused on her once more.

"Hold still, or die."

"Seems like a fair trade..." Sakura gulped, feeling something at the back of her neck prick in pain, before something changed again. The scenery turned black, then it wavered back into the normal surroundings. After that, Sasuke made a show of closing both eyes, then opening one after the other. Sakura felt a feeling of pressure on her left shoulder. She put her hand there, only to discover that she'd only imagined it.

Or had she?

"Answer my questions." Sasuke asked slowly, his mouth moving clumsily and drops of frustrated concentration sweating onto his forehead.

"Uh... okay?" Sakura blinked. This didn't seem to be a major life-or-death scenario, but...

"What... is your name?"

"Sakura?" She answered bemusedly. The man seemed to have a serious problem keeping his open, but he seemed to persevere.

"What... is your quest?"

"To seek the Holy Gra- um; I mean, I want to get a bottle of grape juice." Sakura snorted, trying not to let her amusement show. The executive was beginning to show signs of laboured breathing. Sure, so he could make her see a few weird things and feel non-existent people touching her, but that wasn't enough for him to blow his head open, right?

_Waitaminute, how is he making me hallucinate? Those eyes?_

"What... is your favorite colour?" He gasped, gripping on to the edge of her bed as he struggled to maintain eye contact.

"Blue." She answered promptly.

He closed both his eyes, took a deep breath, and looked at her again.

"How... large are your breasts?"

She knew it was a bad idea to antagonize a man who controlled evil cyborgs of shooty-bang-bang death, she knew she shouldn't have taken offense at a question that really had no place when she was clad only in a nightshift. She knew it wasn't a good idea to exert herself after a fainting spell.

Problem was, she only knew these things after her hand had curved around the room and bitch-slapped the Uchiha off his chair.

"What the hell kind of question is that?!" She roared, her hand still outstretched and stinging as she glowered at the floored man picking himself off the ground. Rubbing her palms together, she began to feel a little fearful now that the rush was fading and her boss was now slowly and deliberately getting to his feet. He turned his head with an agonizing wait until she saw his left eye (No longer red, but black) staring at her emotionlessly.

"One that, had UZU-MAKI been lying, would have had you telling me every last detail about your mammaries. From their perkiness and shape to the tenderness of your nipples, you would have divulged everything you knew, had you been under the influence of the Mk III 'Pinwheel' SHARINGAN." Sasuke said in a monotone, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a tiny white handkerchief.

"Huh?" Sakura blinked. She could sense something extremely strange, something suddenly out of place. A few seconds and she saw it, a miniscule curve at the edge of his mouth.

_Oh god, he's smiling. Ew! Ew! Ew!_

"Your anomaly, Haruno, has just been tested against what may be the strongest range hypnosis weapon developed by Eurocorp. You are officially immune to external controls." The smile grew a little larger, "You are perfect for my plans, Miss Haruno. Therefore, there will be a slight change in your schedule tomorrow."

"I don't get it." Sakura sighed. Seriously, did everyone here have to be as vague as these freaks? What was with all the gloating-evil-villain stuff?

"Let us say that I will be entrusting you to information that I'd rather my brother knew nothing about."

"Fine. Whatever. Is that all?"

Sasuke blinked, a lightning moment of confusion struck his face for a split second and was gone. "I think so, Haruno. One of the staff will be taking you to my office tomorrow for briefing, and with that..." Sasuke made to get up, but a question from the rookie halted him.

"Briefing? I thought I was working on medical stuff?"

"In time. For now, I'd rather you got to know the people outside our workplace." Sasuke gave her another smile, almost sincere if not for the glint in his eye. "My apologies for proving my point, Miss Haruno." He added, pointing at his eye. Sakura mimicked him, feeling the slight soreness of her damaged face from their introduction. He gave a satisfied 'Hn' that she remembered, and walked out, his coat jamming in the crack and ruining an otherwise dramatic exit.

As the door closed, Sakura sighed.

"Finally." She murmured, turning over to try and catch some sleep. That weird spinning eye thingy really left her feeling whacked.

--

The next day had the Rookie waking to find Naruto bouncing on the edge of her bed, talking animatedly with Ino about something that was completely irrelevant this early in the morning. She didn't bother opening her eyes, the sun was gentle on her face as it came through the dusty window and the sheets were cool.

"And then I was like, '_You bastards can kick puppies and steal candy for all I care, but destroy my noodle-shack and you've crossed the line'_, and they were all 'Oh god it's him! Let us worship his sexyness'... What's with that look, Ino?"

"Naruto, even while we were dating, I would never have referred to you as 'The Sexyness'." A sigh, a grumble from the man. "And watch your arm! God, why can't I just dose you up on some Ritalin and be done with it?!"

"Because I'm... cute?"

Another sigh, feminine this time.

"You know Hinata's going to throw a fit if you pull off stupid stuff like that."

"Oh yeah..."

"Heh heh, that made you stop, didn't it!" The tone was that of a verbal leer.

"Hey, I just like her better when she's happy! I can't- Hey, Sakura, you awake?"

_Ah, to hell with it._

"I'm up, I'm up..." She groaned, using her elbows to push herself into a sitting position, still in her suit. She gave an exasperated little grumble when she saw the thousands of creases it had endured as she tossed and turned that night.

"I bought you a spare." Ino gave a chirpy little welcome and help up an identical set of clothing, "And Temari's doing a full English breakfast, in case you're interested."

Even though the door was closed and she hadn't seen any sign of a kitchen during her tiny tour with Hinata, Sakura could smell the sausages (_The skin stretched and shiny and cracked in little places OH YES_) and the hash browns (_The crisp potato mixed with a little brown sauce was like rough sex. In the mouth._) and the orange juice (_Made just right so that it burned the top of your lip from the acid, but still goooood_) and sudden;y her brain went to a happy place of cholesterol and Vitamin C.

"Yeah, I know the feeling. You haven't eaten for two days and you'd gladly rip off an arm for a good meal." Ino nodded as her expression, wincing at the faint drool and making shooing motions at Naruto as she prepared Sakura for changing.

Ten minutes (And an impatient KYUUBI container) later, Sakura found herself seated on a wooden bench in a large, concrete room. She had little time to pay attention to the aesthetics, however, as she was too busy wolfing down the breakfast (Any difference between her imagination and reality made no difference to her ravenous gut) to care about the grey overtones. Once the initial hunger wore off, Ino began pointing out the other members of their little clan at different tables.

"That there is SABAKU 'Puppeteer' Kankuro, he's the one working on Agent response improvements and communications. Mister 'Glare at Naruto as he chats to his nurse' is Neji, another HYUUGA. He's more of a cloak and dagger operative, uses his eye implants to determine vital strikes when he's using a butterfly knife. The guy who's waving at you is LEE, be nice and wave back to him. Something in his blood rejects cyborg implants and so we can't outfit him with anything, but he's training his body real hard to get to our level."

Ino took in another breath, and was about to start another round before Hinata came over, checking her watch and blushing slightly when Naruto came ambling past to inquire as to what she was doing.

"It's time, Sakura."

The rookie cursed, and gulped down the last of her food on her tray in a spray of crumbs and sausage skin, embarrassing herself at the shame of her haste.

"Aw... and I was hoping I could use you as an excuse to ogle Kiba..." Ino sulked, turning around to gaze dreamily at a young wild-looking punk with face markings and a fuzzy haircut who was waving his arms in the air as he talked to a stoic man with dark glasses. "No matter, I'll do it anyway."

--

"A delivery?"

Sasuke nodded behind the desk, the tinted windows letting in no more light than they did the night before. "Two remote-operated grafters are being shipped in hydroponic parts containers. You are to go along with two of our transporters, accompanied by one of our operatives, and confirm that they are the right make and model for external module implantation. I'm aware that you have had experience with the procedure?"

Sakura blinked. "I... have?"

_Whirring laser cutting putting searing metal flesh pacemaker wire_

The images whirred past her forebrain, and she blinked as the information poured in. "I guess I have." She mumbled, dizzy from the sudden memories.

"Hn. Do not let me keep you." He dismissed, turning back to a holographic green screen on his desk.

"Sasu... I mean, Mister Uchiha..." Sakura caught herself, reminded this morning by her colleagues to at least show a little respect for a guy on their side. "With the CHIP and everything, why do you give us nice food? It must cost a fortune."

Truthfully, that had been on her mind as Temari dished up the grub. Quality food would have been a nightmare to get, even for a boss of a multinational company. Sasuke looked up at her and gave her a quick Inquisition with his eyes.

"I value my underlings. Go."

Still pondering his words, Sakura let Hinata lead her out.

--

"Oi, Hidan, pass me a beer, would'ja?"

"Alcohol is a corrupter of the soul and a cause of bad spirit, young one. Catch."

"Don't see why you'd drink that cat's piss, Sui. Have some whiskey like a real man!"

Sakura blinked in the strong sunlight before she saw the scene in the loading park out the back of the enormous company building. A punk with white hair and filed teeth was busily chugging down a tin of beer, drops of the amber liquid rolling down his chin and mingling with the settled dust. Another man with white hair (Abet cropped) and a black cloak was leaning against a giant truck nearly twenty metres long and divided into four segments, reading what appeared to be a book with a symbol of religion on the front.

The last man was a figure with tattoos on his face, similar to Naruto's, drinking straight from a bottle of strong liquor. The difference in resemblence being that his tattoos looked more like gills than anything, rather than whiskers. That and he was blue. And tall. And also had sharp teeth.

_Okay, two freaky punks and a Zealot. Fun crowd._ Sakura groaned inside the safety of her head. Her sigh of resignment cause the religious man to look up and give her a hopeful glance as he made his way towards her holding his book high like a torch.

"Ah! The newest member of the Eurocorp, have you heard the apocalyptic word of the Book of Cataclysm?" He preached, shaking his book as he drew closer. Hinata stood between him and Sakura, emphasising that the mission needed to begin as soon as possible.

"Ooooh-ho! So here's Itachi's latest bit of Rumpy-pumpy!" The blue man chortled and nudged the youngest member of the trio, who spat beer in his face.

"Miss Haruno, these are Hidan, Kisame and Suigetsu, old contacts of the Uchihas. You will be riding with Hidan and Sui for today, I will be in the car with Kisame and follow your ride from a safe distance." Hinata explained, pushing Sakura towards the truck as Kisame punched the rebellious youth in the gut.

Amid the fighting, Sakura managed to get her leg up onto the step in the side of the truck (Not as easy as it seemed, given her tight skirt and heels) and made her way into the middle seat. Suigetsu got into the drivers seat and started up the motor, yelling at Hidan to get his arse into the ride. A minute later, checking his comm to ensure that Hinata and Kisame were ready (And shouting at Hidan again to stop preaching in the Shotgun seat), they drove off onto the road.

For a few minutes, there was silence as Sakura took in the quiet city, seeing nothing but people walking slowly and certainly through the streets. Dark, ceramic buildings lined the equally black road, the only colour being the clothing of the pedestrians, the vivid hues of the flashing advertising boards and the terracotta walkways.

Sakura thought it was beautiful.

"To quote our fine writings, **'It doth take a thousand elephants to wreck the walls of a fortress, but only one diseased rat to kill all inside'.** Now, Suigetsu, what thought does that inspire in you?" Hidan asked hopefully, in the manner of a Sunday school teacher.

"It inspires me to get some earplugs." His colleague drawled, flickering his gaze towards the girl sandwiched between them in the cockpit. "So, you're going to be checking out the produce, missy?"

"Haruno to you, and yes, I am." Sakura murmured absentmindedly, not really paying attention.

"Okie dokie. Well, we'll get you there safe, okay?" Suigetsu winked, "My life is always on the line for pretty faces, so I'm used to it."

"Oh." Sakura caught the compliment despite herself, and coloured a little. "Thanks."

"No problem. Okay, we're about ten minutes from the first checkpoint, I'll let you know when you gotta be awake, yeah?"

--

Sakura had only a vague blur of a memory that explained how she ended up underneath the dashboard, listening to the occasional ping as a bullet rebounded off the tough metal plating of the truck. The hum of the magnetic engine could be heard now as it went to pull capacity, her cheek sizzling with pain as a red hot shell casing fell onto it from Hidan's shotgun.

It had started when she was dozing off, and had spotted a seam of brown amongst the colours of the civilians. She jerked awake to see a pair of white eyes and a blue cap look directly at her, withdrawing something from its heavy coat.

'Agent!' she had cried, hearing Suigetsu curse as he floored the pedal and carooned over the streets, flying away from the cyborg menace.

Hidan had wondered out loud how a solitary agent had managed to infiltrate their zone of influence, but stopped to pick out a weapon from a ceiling holster and fired as a car drove out from a side street and sided along them in the two-lane road. Two Agents, with a third driving, had opened fire on the larger vehicle, trying to get a shot in on the occupants.

So it had been for about a minute, both sides aligning with each other along the straight stretch of mag-road and taking potshots as the opportunity came. Eventually, Hidan's gun clicked as he searched for more ammo.

Back to the present, Sakura gave a little scream as a bullet went through the window and hit the ceiling with a _Thumuck_. She had no gun (Or any training) and couldn't defend herself. What was Hinata _doing_?

"I need more Justice in mine hands!!" Hidan roared as he pulled off his shirt to reveal a lattice of black scars running up and down his chest. "Drive me closer, Acolyte, that I may smite the infidel machines!"

As Sui shifted the steering wheel left, Sakura looked up from her hollow and saw four cylinders on the Zealot's chest hiss into slots within it in a whisper of steam. He climbed onto the window space, ignoring the bullets that pinged into the metal around him. One found its mark, smacking into his shoulder with a meaty sound and spraying the left side of the windscreen with blood from the exit wound. Hidan did not notice the hit, and laughed freely as blood ran unchecked from the exit wound. Sakura felt her stomach heave as he jumped onto the other car, a red stream flying through the air with him.

"He's hopped up on stims, he'll be fine!" Suigetsu yelled at her. She didn't care, and ignoring the danger, moved onto the seat and looked out through the window. She saw him crouched on the bonnet of the car, his eyes black and devilish in the sunlight as he pulled a pistol from his belt holster and shot the driving Agent through the hea. The weaving of the car as the driver lost control caused the other Agents to miss their mark, although another bullet hit the man's left thigh.

As the blood spilled onto the bonnet, Hidan laughed again through the bullets, intoning a holy script.

"**The master came down unto the fold, 'Behold my wounds', said he! And the disciples noted with wonder the holes in his hands, and the cauterization in his palms! And thus did he say...!**"

The Transporter knelt down, miraculously keeping his balance on the winding vehicle. He punched through the bonnet with one swift movement and pulled out the plasma generator, the heatless device sitting calmly in his hands as the car lost power and ceased to levitate, slamming into the ground.

The last Sakura saw of Hidan was him throwing the engine into the car's passenger seats, jumping away from the car, pulling out his pistol and shouting one last line before he fired:

"**...LET THERE BE PAIN!!**"

There was an explosion, and light and sound. Sakura felt her throat constrict as the shockwave buffeted the truck.

A few minutes passed in silence, until Suigetsu felt it safe enough to relax.

"Don't worry about him. You saw the damage he can take, he'll be fine." He laughed, putting a hand on Sakura's shoulder to calm her down. She shivered as she looked at the blood on the windshield, and asked a question once she felt her voice wouldn't shake.

"Does this happen often?"

Suigetsu shrugged. "I'd say 'bout twice a week. We'll be at the stop in twenty minutes, Hidan'll hitch a ride with Kisame and Boobies."

Sakura wondered, not for the first time that day, just what she'd gotten herself into.

* * *

_SHARINGAN: Secular-Hypnotism-Array/Ranged-Illusion-Neurogenerator/Guided-Action-Nominator. Long story short, it controls CHIPs by sending info through the enemy's eyes. Brain picks it up, relays it to the CHIP, CHIP is hacked and under the user's control._

_Visit my profile! Check out my other crap, and thanks to everybody who reviewed! (And hopefully will keep reviewing!)_

_UBER out!_


	5. Automation

_This one is a little shorter, but I wanted Hinata to have her own time in the sun. After this, she's backstory, people! Happy New Year!  


* * *

_

Cringing in her seat, Sakura closed her eyes and tried not to dwell on the red splatter that covered half the ceiling and slowly dripped down onto the dashboard. She could smell the rust in the oxidizing blood, something that she felt she could be used to but hoped she would never have the opportunity to. She heard Suigetsu curse as he struggled to keep the mag-freighter on the rails, fighting both the wheel and the radio transceiver attached to his ear.

'I don't know! Maybe he rolled off the road!'

'…_jus………sev……unkno…'_

'Well, ask your bug man to track him for us!'

'…_much…………ence…'_

'Jamming signal? You've gotta be shitting me…'

'…_ue, we………formed………con.'_

'And Kisame?'

Sakura tuned out at that point, deciding to remove the shattered plastic of her window and try to keep an eye out for any other waves of Agents. With luck, given how expensive Hinata had hinted they were, she wasn't worth the resources they'd thrown at her, if they even had her in mind at all.

Upon hearing a blip from Suigetsu's ear, she watched him turn towards her and grin, holding the steering wheel in place and keeping an eye on the road. She noted the sharp teeth, wondering whether they were genetically implanted, or simply had them filed to enhance his appearance. Both options were rather expensive, so how did he-

_How do I know that?_

Suigetsu cut off her thoughts with a quick lean and a peck on the cheek, giving a tiny nip to her pale flesh as he withdrew just as hastily. He laughed at the scandalized look on her face, flooring the accelerator as they hit a quiet stretch of road.

"For luck, babe." He explained as she felt the tiny cut on her face, a drop of blood beading from the minute puncture. The speed picked up, hard enough to begin pressing Sakura back into her seat before the second burst of velocity left her back firmly emplaced against the leather fabric. Her silver-haired guide began laughing insanely as he leaned out the window, one hand on the outside of the door as he slipped on a pair of goggles with his other hand. Sakura was about to scream at him for removing his hands from the wheel when she saw his naked toes maneuvering the controls with zeal.

From then on, Sakura could only watch helplessly as the truck turned and pitched at angles that nearly left the lumbering leviathan parallel to the ground. The Driver's laughter and the frantic beeping of the occasional other car were the only things she could hear over the silent engine's thrumming as they entered tunnels and floored down the freeway. Near misses and close encounters with the edge of the raised roading filled her vision.

Eventually, and far too late for Sakura's liking, the truck began to slip into a noticeably industrial section of the city, slowing down to a less suicidal rate (And here she began wondering just whether the similarities twixt Suigetsu and Suicide were just a coincidence). The driver clambered back into his seat, Sakura watched his face fall with the speedometer, accompanied with little mewing moans everytime it lost another ten kilometers.

"I… I guess you really like driving fast, huh?" Sakura swore at herself for being so obvious, "I mean, it's like speed is your drug. Well, obviously, because Speed is a Methamphetamine, but… yeah." She finished lamely, ashamed of the amused little smiles he kept sending her way.

"I think you already know the answer." Suigetsu remarked, turning the wheel and sliding the truck through an unmanned gate, parking the monster vehicle along five other designated spaces. A nondescript, grey-brown warehouse stood at the end, dusty windows and old paint only adding to the depilated building's unattraction. "And here's your stop. You go and mark the medical supplies with this-" He threw her a long stick made with something not unlike blue tack, "-And we'll pick 'em up later. Stay in the cockpit until Hinata turns up, I've gotta see if the engine can handle another trip like that."

With that, he opened the door (Only for it to fall off its hinges, leaving a few seconds of quiet as they contemplated just how close they'd been to death.) and opened a compartment under the steps. Withdrawing a tool set, Suigetsu unscrewed a crawlspace in the now-settled truck and went inside to the sound of clangs and occasional swearing as he got stuck and smacked his head.

'Hey, Sakura!' She heard him call out, somewhere under the driver's chair.

"Yeah?" She blurted out, searching inside for something to wipe off the blood from her blouse.

'It comes to mind that all I gotta do to look up your dress is drill a hole… heh heh, 'drill'.'

"Was that absolutely necessary?" Sakura sighed.

'Heh heh… 'hole'.'

"For the love of… urgh." Sakura finished the line premature as a car drove into the compound, opening to reveal Hinata with a pair of Uzis slung over her back and several splashes of gore on her legs. Her outfit was strangely clean, until Sakura noted that she'd been wearing a different set of clothes when she left.

_Standard procedure, I guess. Never know when you'll find yourself covered in fluids._

"You okay?" She called out, climbing down the stairs to hop onto the concrete.

"It's not mine!" Hinata called back, crossing the distance, "Yourself?"

"A couple of cartridge burns and in sore need of a few paper towels, otherwise I'm good." She looked at the car again, "Where's the blue guy?"

"He's dragging Hidan back to the Headquarters, poor man couldn't walk, but he's well enough to survive a piggyback."

"But I saw…" Sakura looked back at the windscreen, Hinata following her gaze, "He got shot straight through the shoulder, his body should be entering shock after a trauma like that!"

"A couple of sutures and a stimpack would probably handle that, plus, he's got some crazy modifications done to him."

Sakura remembered the cylinders on his chest, and nodded.

"Come on, lets get to work." Hinata motioned for her to follow, grabbing a pistol from a holster underneath her skirt, wrapped securely around her thigh. "In case you find yourself alone." She told her cryptically, handing Sakura the pistol.

"I don't know how to use this." Sakura admitted, holding the weapon at arms length, afraid it might explode.

"Safety is here." Hinata showed her the little switch on the side. "Flick it up, point and pull the trigger. Physics will handle the rest."

Sakura contemplated her new acquisition as Hinata grabbed a card from the pocket on her shirt and swiped the scanner, pulling her charge through as the door opened. It was gloomy inside, but with enough light fading through the dirty windows to make the writing on the innumerable boxes readable. The Hyuuga opened up a PDA from another pocket, checking the data on container storage and looking up to check the long corridors of aluminum and cardboard.

"Medical stuff is mostly in the middle-right row from where we're standing, but there's a report of more specialized items on the top-left."

"Specialized items?" Sakura questioned, with Hinata shrugging slightly before she looked back at the readout, pressing a few keys and looking closely at the results.

"It says… 'Laser Scalpel'. Tissue softeners, Teratin, Anti-rejection drugs, Neuranase, Benevolent Cancer kits…"

"That's what we're after. Especially Teratin." Sakura nodded, "To the top-left."

After the exhilaration of the car-chase and the gunfight, it was a strange change of pace to find herself sorting through the containers to find the equipment needed for the augmentations. Hinata did not seem willing to help her shift around, instead watching the walls and ceiling with a suspicion that Sakura was only beginning to comprehend. After tearing off another blob and marking the last container that she felt prudent for acquisition, the white-eyed girl thrust out her hand, slowly unslinging one of the guns from her back.

"They must've been waiting till you were finished, there's something moving on the roof and it doesn't sound like pigeons gone giant." She noted, grabbing her mic and muttering into the speaker.

"We have possible hostiles. Tell Sui to stay in the hatch."

"I don't get it, how did they know I was finished?" Sakura whispered, to which Hinata pointed at the gum.

"Resonating 'Taffy'. It gives off radio waves at pre-set frequencies; I guess they've already figured out that when you moved away from the goods, you were finished."

"Smart cookies. _I_ didn't know I was finished." Sakura grumbled, her hands trembling a little as she fumbled with the safety on her pistol. Hinata's soft hand lay on top of hers, shaking her head.

"I got confirmation. These guys are punkers, street muscle, they're already dead."

Sakura blinked, "What do you mean?"

Whatever the answer was, it most definitely wasn't the sound of breaking glass or the wild yelps of the young men that rappelled through them, muzzles on their shotguns flashing randomly as they fired on anything they could. As the windows were on the opposite side to the girls, and the spray of bullets was very unfocused, no spent bullets even came close to their position.

"Hopped up on stims, what do you know." Hinata sighed, unslinging the second Uzi from her back, "I'll be right back.".

Rolling out from the impromptu shelter, the Hyuuga began her stalk, the veins around her eyes bulging from the added stress of her augments. The punks hadn't disengaged from their rappels, swinging wildly with every shell fired and laughing like men possessed.

Definitely not a match for a HYUUGA.

Hinata managed to keep sneaking around a sheet-metal container, watching the miniscule reflections of the gray walls with a clarity of vision no normal human could possess. Everything reflected off every surface, and the overdriving additions to her senses left the white-eyed girl with 360 degree awareness.

And it was with this awareness that she jumped and twisted over the rectangle of steel, both Uzis ready and aimed to spread across the windows.

For once in her life, Sakura shared the same thoughts as a bunch of drug-addicted lowlifes.

_What the fuck?_

Hinata's legs steadied her as her guns sprayed forth ammo, the little bullets punching through the thin armour of the streets and tearing open flesh, each and every one finding their mark. By the time two of the hired guns had figured to shoot back, she had bent herself over almost backwards and scissor-flipped behind another tall container. The exterior of the casing and the concrete where she stood began to burst into fragments as the returning fire tore fragments loose.

There were only three men left, the others hanging limp and leaking blood against the walls, a slow and thin trickle of blood staining the grey with red. Two of the men had gone berserk, screaming with rage and unloading round after round after the Hyuuga as the third gibbered and began to spit in terror. Eventually the firing stopped, with the shrieking men crying for their comrade to cover him while they reloaded. And they all felt the fear when Hinata strolled out gracefully from behind her cover, her weapons spewed forth fire and smoke once, twice.

Only the terrorized man spoke out, writhing against his supports. He pleaded with his eyes, blurred with tears and red-rimmed from stim abuse. One hand upturned in supplication, another held out as if to stop the bullets from harming him, he said one word:

"Don't…"

And the muzzle flashed again.

Hinata turned, and Sakura turned her eyes away, she didn't want to see whatever stared back. Something that killed with such cold feeling, something that took lives with grace that spoke of much experience in that field.

A sob broke her, however. She looked back to see her friend choking back tears as she dropped the guns.

"Why do they make me kill them, Sakura?" She said, sounding unimaginably small.

Sakura decided that there was no helping it, and buried Hinata in her arms as the girl let her emotions out.

* * *

_Righto! Now, there's a poll up on my profile, check it out. And remember to click the link at the bottom of my profile, it's a great spoof of popular animes and pretty damn fun in the bargain. Oh, and review too, that would be sweet. Feel free to question me!_


	6. Intimidation

_My apologies for the late update. Writer's block, assignments, family and university, not to mention job searching._

_A big thank you to 2stupid and Miko-chan, who beta'd this piece (Unfortunately, I kinda updated before I got Miko's. I'm an impatient man. Sorry! ^^;)_

_Enjoy, and as always, please review and give feedback.  
_

* * *

It was a quiet hovercar that made its way back to the headquarters, the silence unbroken and awkward as Sakura gave furtive little glances to her white-eyed coworker. Hinata's tears had dried up the minute they'd started, the woman pulling herself together with what appeared to be an enormous use of willpower, or perhaps her CHIP had simply dispersed a bundle of endorphins and left it at that. Who knew? Pupilless eyes stared forward, shifting left and right to check for traffic and other possible threats, hands not leaving the steering wheel to wipe the cheeks that still held salty trails.

"Y'know…" Sakura began, trying to start a conversation. She gave up the minute Hinata's mouth pulled into a grimace, acknowledging that she still hadn't quite come to grips with the calculated murder she had performed. Sakura sat back into the leather, sighing and wondering why _she_ hadn't gone emotional at the killing. No matter how may times she replayed the scene in her head, watched the jerkings of a body pulled by a dying brain, listening to the gurgling screams of the deceased, she didn't feel revulsion. It was as if the only things she could understand were…

_Impact point: Skull, os frontale._

_Penetration: Uzi 9mm bullet at 400kph, approx. 5 grammes. Impact has exceeded pressure requirements of hard bone, skull penetrated. TBI has occurred. Frontal lobes of brain are traumatized. Atrophy will occur. Higher brain functions have ceased. Subject is brain dead. Subject is deceased. Do not treat. Harvest organs immediately._

_Impact point: Lower abdomen. _

_Penetration: Uzi 9mm bullet at 400kph, approx. 5 grammes. Impact has exceeded piercing requirements for abdominal flesh. Kidney impacted, large amount of blood loss will follow. Not fatal if treated within half an hour. _

_Treatment is as follows: Removal of foreign object, styptic, disinfect, suture. Rest. Prepare for formal surgery._

_Impact point:…_

"HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!?!"

The car twisted to the side and dipped its edge into the road at her scream, screeching to a halt. Hinata's Uzis were pulled from the ceiling and aimed out the adjacent windows, eyes wide and pumped with drugs. "Which way, Sakura?! Which way did you see them? What did you see?!" she cried, almost frail looking as she mentally accounted for her ammunition.

Sakura breathed heavily, shaking her head at Hinata and motioning to put the guns away. "It's nothing. I just… I just had this really weird flashback of when you shot the punkers… and I could see, I could tell… _I knew what I had to do._"

"Sakura?" Hinata whispered, reholstering the weapons and giving an embarrassed wave to a ranting elder who passed her car. She started it up again, one eye on the highway as she shifted back into the right lane. "What do you mean, what you had to do?"

"How to save them, how to heal them… how to recycle them…" Sakura shuddered; the images replaying were rather gruesome. "… I don't know why, I don't know why I don't mind death. I want to mind death. I want to be human. Humans don't mind dea-" her voice was growing higher in pitch when a sharp pain in her shoulder made her cry out and turn to see Hinata replacing a syringe under the seat.

"You were getting hysterical," she said matter-of-factly, driving with one hand.

Sakura rubbed her shoulder and watched a drop of blood ooze from the injection, beading on the skin, and scowled under her breath, "So you stick me with a needle? You rely on drugs too much, Hinata."

"You don't rely on them enough." She smiled back. "And don't start on the long-term effects, either. I'm only expected to live another five years."

Sakura stared. Her driver had just bluntly admitted to something that would have had her squirming in bed every night if she had known it. _Five years_. And she looked only twenty; didn't she want to grow old?

_In this world, who wants to grow old?_

"Only five… huh?" she repeated to herself, voice unsteady. "Th-that… That sucks. I think." She looked at the girl from the corner of her eye, pretending to watch an advertisement that displayed an energy drink-sipping woman with too much makeup and a padded bra. Hinata's eye twitched, but otherwise her face remained calm. "Don't you want to… I don't know, have a family? Settle down? Fall in love?"

"I've already fallen in love. That's why I don't care if I die or live or about anything the future holds. I'll die protecting him, because my dream is to fall asleep in his arms and feel his hands hold my face as the dawn rises." Hinata murmured in a monotone, "I keep having that dream. A night alone with my man is probably the only thing I can hope for right now."

"Ah, so he's the only thing, isn't he?" Sakura was unashamedly watching Hinata now, trying to figure out who it was her companion loved. "But isn't there anything else? I mean, it's not like he's the only thing worth living for."

Hinata seemed to puzzle it over, chewing on her lip as the car passed through the three gates comprising the Eurocorp compound's entrance. "Well… there is one thing…"

"Yeah?"

She looked over at Sakura, and gave a real, gentle smile, the skin near her eyes crinkling from practice.

"… Gardening is nice."

--

"… Seven men dead. I would not recommend a recovery team, but HARUNO had to abort her mission in anticipation of Agent reinforcement, so I advise a second mission with outside backup."

_Did I? I thought you just needed to run?_

"Identification on the muscle?"

"None, although the way in which they panicked is rather similar to the drug combination therapy the Church of the Nine put their combatants through."

"No insignia, however. Hyuuga, may I remind you that misinterpreting affiliations can result in instant liquidation? Or would you rather I processed you for a mental wipe?"

There was a chilly silence in Sasuke's briefing room, the Agents that usually flanked his office were currently patrolling the perimeter, but the presence seated in the leather chair was intimidating all on its own. Sakura felt her eyes sting whenever she looked into the shadowy depths, wishing the man would at least have the decency to have a desklight on or something. Hinata stepped forward, grabbing Sakura's checklist from her pocket, and placed it on the table where Sasuke had called up a holographic layout of the warehouse.

"Haruno-one had finished marking the correct supplies in the upper-right quadrant, and was currently moving towards the centre area for the larger items." Hinata traced her finger through the vertical flat-grid that stood up from the desk. "She was here when I picked up thumping noises on the roof coming from the northwest side of the building. Could you please show the outside of the warehouse, Master Uchiha?"

A few buttons pressed, a click, and the roof and sides of the building faded in. Stairways up the northwest building were pointed out with faint flashing lights, as were the air ducts, complete with a note that stated they were too small for a human to squeeze through, and doorways.

"A direct approach, a fanatical attack, and a lack of discipline. I can understand your reasoning, Hyuuga. However, take into account that they were also co-ordinated and stationed for a trap. Acolytes, even the not-so-expendable ones, are generally released by the church to do their own thing. It's a faux-freedom, I think."

"So this is the work of a rival Syndicate?"

"That's on a need-to-know basis. You are dismissed. Get yourself cleaned up, I expect you to be absolutely ready for the follow up."

"If that is your wish, Master Uchiha." Hinata bowed, then tugged Sakura along as she made her way out.

"Not her. Haruno-one, we have something to discuss."

_Oh god, I was really looking forward to a nap, too…_ Sakura sighed as she nodded at her white-eyed and wide-eyed friend, mouthing a goodbye as the door closed. _Although I think I'm going to be seeing those bloody lumps of dead flesh for a while, now…_

She shivered a little, and turned to face her executive. "Something you want to ask, Uchiha?"

"Master Uchiha," he reminded her, voice unchanging.

"Uchiha," she repeated, grinding her teeth in irritation.

It may have been a trick of the light, but she swore his fingers ground together. _Ah, so the statue can crack,_ she thought, trying not to envision what would happen if she pushed her superior too far.

"You recall that I require your assistance, yes?"

"Something about your brother, wasn't it?" Sakura puzzled aloud; the man had been rather vague on the details when it came to just what he had wanted.

"Exactly. Once you have procured the equipment, you are to request a transferral for a training course under the medic, Tsunade. My brother has an improved, prototype Sharingan under inspection, and he has an operation towards its maintenance. Please, I want you to figure this one out yourself."

_Just like that? Right. Um… Okay… Er… Improved prototype… Given that emo-pants here is probably an achiever… probably a backstabbing little bastard, the cowardly ass… And if he's hinting that he wants me to work on his brother's eyes…_

"Sabotage."

Sakura gulped as Sasuke's form heaved out of shadow into the white-carved gloom of the evening. "Wrong."

_Huh?_

"The information regarding the creation, use, and repair of the new Sharingan is on a need-to-know basis. As the operator, you will have access and physical manipulation of that information. I want you to bring it to me, as much information as possible, and do so without being detected."

"And if I am?" Sakura sighed again. Once more, he had yet to go into any specifics about the hows and wheres and whys…

"You'll get the full treatment. First, you'll be strapped spread-eagled to a table, and we'll pull off your ears, rip off your nose, cut out your tongue, gouge out your eyes…"

"Okay! Okay! Enough already, sheesh."

"…Pull out your nails and roast the exposed flesh to cauterise it, pull out your teeth and fill your mouth with ascorbic acid, open your abdomen and pull out your intestines-"

"STOP!!"

A pair of hands slammed down onto Sasuke's desk, splintering the wood and indenting the frame. Sakura was only mildly surprised to find they belonged to her, but the pointed way Sasuke stared at them made it a little uncomfortable to leave them there. Slowly, shaking from the sudden movement and adrenaline, Sakura pulled back his fists, wondering why they didn't hurt. Not even a twinge, a scrapped piece of skin, even…

"Are you sure? That's just the first fifteen minutes." A glare from green eyes halted his conversation faster than any amount of physical force could. "Look, Haruno, I'm not much of a fan to extensive torture. That was our founder's idea, I'm just an executive."

He paused, tilting his head up to the ceiling. "You, Haruno, I can trust. You're a nobody, and a nobody without a clue. But you have a consciousness about you that the others can't keep, and a sense of justice that means that you'll do anything to make things fair, make things bearable. Believe me when I say that I'm the only way for you to change the world, change this Syndicate."

"I don't think there's anything to believe, Uchiha," Sakura snapped.

Sasuke sighed, and looked back into her eyes. "But you know as well as I do that I'm the one with power, here. I was fostered off with a delegation of cybernetic rejects that no right-thinking executive would want, and I turned them into Agents of high calibre. I want to do the same with you. I _need_ you, Haruno."

Silence. The tapping of fingers on synthetic wood. The hectic breathing of one pink-haired recruit. The tiny crunching of teeth grinding together. A tiny mechanical whining as the Sharingan in Sasuke's eyes went active.

"Wouldn't this room be bugged?"

_Why was that the first thing that came to mind?_

"I have it checked daily. I haven't found a bug in months, now."

More silence.

A moist sound, an influx of breath, a tiny gasp as the words inside a woman's mouth were cut short. Another breath, more calm, measured.

"What is your goal, Sasuke?"

"Haruno, if you so much as hint at what I am planning to anyone else, I will oversee your painful end myself, is that understood?"

"Yes."

"I am planning nothing more than a coup d'etat of Eurocorp, starting with the demise of my brother and our ever-mysterious founder. From there, I will use my contacts to collapse rival Syndicates on a continental scale, effectively bringing all of Asia, Africa and the Eastern reaches of Europe under complete Eurocorp control. Once that is completed and the masses are induced into our fold, I intend to take over the American continent, finally conquering Australia. I intend nothing more than overwhelming the world and forcing peace down its throat, Haruno. And you are going to be instrumental in this, or I will see your failing skull trepanned and filled with napalm, as is the usual procedure."

"Just napalm?"

"You'd rather something hotter in your head?"

The two of them stared at each other. Sakura felt a like a pair of trains had decided to throw a crash course in her head, two major options and pathways of thought conflicted that made her mind swim.

_This man is a person who orders mothers to be captured and turned into undead monster gangsters, who forces good people to kill other people, who wants to control the world, who is most likely several different shades of evil bastard whenever my back is turned._

_On the other hand, isn't that reason there's so much fighting- because there are so many Syndicates gunning for control? And he wants peace… I think._

_If there's any chance of peace for anyone, like for that mother… go with it. It's not like you have your own life anymore. May as well start a new one with good intentions._

_Can we trust him?_

_There isn't anyone else._

"No idea." Sakura shrugged. "I'll go along with this, if only because… well, I'm sure you'll come up with some clever little way of creeping me out with little verbal horrors."

"Verbal horrors?" Sasuke blinked, face unchanging. He reached underneath the desk and pulled out a little black book. "Itachi got me this for my fourth birthday. The Little Boy's Guide to Intimidation, Torture and Squick. It was the only one he could find with pictures."

"… What?"

"This is where I get my 'clever little ways' from."

"… A children's book."

"If you thought it was difficult to raise kids before, Haruno-one, you are about to be severely astonished."

They looked at each other again. Somehow, with the morbid atmosphere and the previous gunfights and bloody carnage, the little book seemed so incongruous that…

"Pffffftt…. Eh heh heh… eh heh hehhehheh!! A children's-pfffffthaha! Ahahaha!!"

Sakura felt her laughter escalate, turning into great, heaving peals that made her hold her sides with the surrealism of everything. Eventually, tears began forming, the scenes and trauma from earlier finally beginning to work their way out. By the time her laughter had ceased, Sakura was outright sobbing with emotional exhaustion.

Then something soft dabbed at her cheek. Warm, dry cotton glided over her skin and mopped up her tears, guided by delicate white hands.

"Don't cry. Tears are hell to shift from the carpet," Sasuke's voice whispered, most likely to avoid an inspection from the Agents outside his office. He placed his handkerchief in her hand, turned her around and gave her a gentle shove towards the door with a command to "get some sleep and eat something. Report back to me at 10 AM."

As the door closed, Sasuke looked over the dents in his desk, forehead crinkling as he frowned. 'Hn'ing in his throat, he picked a phone from its hook under his desk and pressed a single button.

"Sasori? It's Sasuke. Time to return that favour you owe me."

* * *

_And what oh what will it be? Stay tuned! Oh, and because all good things must be repeated: REVIEW PIG-DOG VERMIN!!_


	7. Annihilation

"My my, such a vast array of gifts. When was the last time I was treated so kindly?" The red-haired man sat stiffly on the black leather sofa, eyes casually roaming over the assorted bottles and occasional gold-edged microchips on the table before him. He picked up a smaller bottle, coverd in plain paper, unwrapping it and holding the glass to the light-green lights that hung limply from the ceiling. After roughly half a minute of inspecting the contents, he nodded approvingly and spread out his hands toward his visitor.

"Little Sasuke, it's been years. I can only assume that you have something schemed up to involve your brother, curse this old man's memory for forgetting the reasons why..." He chuckled, tapping his cheek absentmindly. The man opposite him gave an almost condescending 'hn' under his breath, before raising his face to meet the young-faced man's eyes. "Drop the act, Sasori. My brother has nothing to do with this."

Sasori blinked, and shook his head. "Oh, but how I wish I could believe that, Itachi's hands grip everything-" He chuckled to himself as Sasuke crossed his legs, "-Metaphorically, that is. Or is that a conditioned reflex I spy?"

"Are you in the mood for hearing my proposal or not? I don't have time to waste, I have a new recruit going through a mental conditioning run. I had to send out Hyuuga 12 with her and arrange for an incident at the warehouse, I've got an hour before she starts being insubordinate, at best." Sasuke sighed, fighting the urge to steeple his fingers, arms resting on his knees as he eyed the man before him. Black eyes searched and found little evidence of what the man was, but what he saw only confirmed the craftsmanship that had even the Agents mumbling cautiously in their drugged stupors. Absolutely flawless skin in a era where scars were not only commonplace but environmentally mandatory, red hair in a time of excessive overpopulation and heterogynous gene mixing. This man was too perfect to be real, and yet here he was.

Sasori straightened up, his eyes unhazing from introspection to be brung into sharp focus, a tiny smile playing over his face. "Her, little Sasuke? What could Tomato boy mean, to let slip that a female is the cause of all this..." He held up his hand as Sasuke opened his mouth, "No, no, let me figure this out, I want to give it a try. Humour an old man." He chided with a laugh, "Now then, it would be... oh, close on two decades since I participated in Project Regenesis... and I remember working on this sweet little girl of about two... Itachi was _very_ interested in her, and the boy was scarcely through his first decade, too!"

Tapping his fingers on the desk, Sasori narrowed his vision at the young executive before him. "And now, right about the time that girl should be beginning to experience the _real_ benefits of her... modification... his power-hungry little brother comes up with a proposal. This boy, who gifts me with some _very_ expensive preservative and neurocytes -I would've preferred some Turboprop, by the way- and asks me if I want to hear some kind of deal, I wonder what -or who- this deal will involve me with... or against." The smile widened, the eyes grew feral, "Could this possibly be a chance to see my creation once more? My little pink-haired doll? My daughter? Are you simply offering the chance to see my daughter again just so you can have an edge? Are you such a meandering lowlife that you have to resort to offering an old man the chance to see his only offspring, forged in a game of scientific progress, or risk going without a tiny piece of information?" Sasori's hands ceased to tap, and pressed into the wood.

Sasuke matched the man's gaze, before he realized that something was tinging the edge of his vision. He blinked, twitched the right corner of his right eye, and felt his peripheral vision bloom as the Sharingan came into effect. Sasori was unfazed when he reopened his eyes, but he saw what he needed to see: the perfect man's fingers were beginning to leave dents in the wood. He answered the man's questions with a single phrase, and leaned back to let the implications settle.

"I am an executive of Eurocorp, Sasori, with all that bears to mind."

Sasori's face settled into a blank, before breathing out and bringing back the tiny smile. "Then that's about as obvious as you can get. Poor little Sasuke, you were such a nice boy, too." He stood up, going to the back of the meeting room in which they had held their impromptu meeting. "I will give you her specifications, check her body, everything that is verifiable. I will not advise you, Sasuke, as I tend to have reservations regarding the exploitation of my more precious craftsmanship." He halted in the act of putting on a large, bulky trenchcoat to address the black-haired man, "And if I find she has been treated as anything other than human -and I mean the sort of human with rights, mind you-" He added as Sasuke moved to remind him about how the Syndicate usually treated people, "Then I will show you how I managed to live so long... and why the time you live in will be found rather... brief."

"Understood. Do you require any form of assistance? Escorting?" Sasuke nodded towards the coat, "That will not stop anything above an 8mm Nambu."

"Please, Tomato-boy, have some faith in the Puppet Master." The red-haired man winked, "Or else why bother going to the show?"

–

"She's hit!! She's hit!! Oh fucking hell _why didn't she say anything_?!"

"Please, please, I'm fine. I'm fine. Please don't shout at me, I'm fine. Naruto, please don't shaaaaa..."

_Thump_

"Medic! _Medic!!! _Get Shino! Get Granny! _Somebody move their ass or I'LL KILL YOU, I'LL KILL YOU ALL DEAD._"

The fourth floor section b5-4 hallway was suddenly seeing a lot of attention, personel scurried around and busied themselves with a strange level of detachment in their stride. A blond, whiskered man was on his knees, cradling an unconscious porcelain-skined woman with a growing patch of blood slowly seeping through the thigh of her dress, his eyes burning a fearsome crimson as he gripped onto the wound and attempted to staunch the flow with the fabric of her skirt. Occasionally he would scream and curse at the uncaring coworkers, but his countenance would quickly revert to fear and concern as he felt the warm and starchy stickiness under his fingers.

A glimpse of a massive chest pushing through the crowd flooded his veins with relief, doubly so when the gurdy was unfolded and Hinata was gently loaded on top of it. Questions followed, he answered as best he could. She had been accompanying the Rookie, taken a bullet in the leg and was too blasted on battle sedatives to notice until she had joined him to check on his wounds, whereupon she calmly limped towards the medical wing before passing out from blood loss. The fact that her skirt was dark to begin with helped to hide the blood at the least. He followed the Gurny and his mother-figure to the (The healing one, at least) medical wing, where a man surrounded by black specks and a green trenchcoat (Unsanitary, but better equipped against booby-trapped corpses) was turning off a pager, slipping it into his pocket and watching the arrivals through reflective shades.

"Bullet wound. Entry, no exit. On her right side, missed the artery, mostly a flesh wound, could have hit a secondary vein, pretty straightforward." Tsunade rattled off, the shaded man nodded thoughtfully. Naruto respectfully looked away as they cut away the obstructing fabric, nervously pacing the theatre as they inspected the damage. It wasn't pretty, the bullet had lodged itself in a muscle cluster and the tip had splintered due to poor alloys, ripping as it went and barbing itself against the flesh. Pulling it out would hook in Hinata's leg, and opening the wound hole would tear chunks that were hooked on the bullet's barb. Blood was still leaking thoroughly, and thanks to Hinata's unawareness of her unforseen visitor, had managed to move around as she walked and cause even more damage.

"Shino, if you would be so kind." Tsunade deadpaned, watching the black specks rise into a small cloud that covered the man before they crept along his arm to run into the wound. A score of seconds later and the bullet was considerably lessened while the specks hovered back toward the silent man's arms, as if it had spent a few hours getting sandpapered from all sides. "Thank you. Forceps." She called, receiving the surgical tweezers. "Naruto, out of here. It's going to take a little moxie to pull this bastard out."

"But, what if Hina-" He noticed Shino shaking his head at him, and decided to place his faith in Granny as he left the rusty, out-of-date surgery. Again.

_Somebody has to answer for this. _

--

"YOU SON OF A FUCKING BITCH!!"

Sasuke groaned and rubbed his forehead, trying desperately to keep his head after his longest-lived colleague had burst into the room and slammed his hands down on the already worse-for-wear desk, demanding answers as to why he had let his nurse and a rookie go up against a group of agents and hired muscle. It didn't help that Naruto's Kyuubi was beginning to overtake its resting compensators and altered his eyes into the famous slit-pupiled stare, enhancing his already feral appearance.

"I had no idea that-"

It was then that Naruto did something very, very stupid. In his increasingly irrational mind, he figured that his point would be more valid if he broke something. So he whipped out his hand and grabbed, flinging a rectangular disk against the wall so hard the frame snapped off with the sound of cracking glass.

"YOU LISTEN THE FUCK HERE, SASUKE! YOU SENT THEM AGAINST FUCKING AGENTS, _AGENTS!!_ HINATA'S IN THE FUCKING CHOPSHOP WITH A FUCKING BULLET IN HER FUCKING LEG!! _WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!_"

Naruto, even in the unstoppable rage that was his augment as his fingers clawing deep furrows in the wood of Sasuke's desk, could tell something had just slipped past him. As his eyes slowly turned back into their normal hue, he realized with the pants-pissingly terrifying certainty that he may have just smashed the only picture Sasuke had left of his parents. Sasuke hadn't moved the entire time, but when he raised his head Naruto could see the Sharingan spinning lazily in his eyes.

"I can assure you that if I had intended for them to go up against agents, I would have sent them with more backup than a psychotic priest and two alcoholic punks, Uzumaki. I had absolutely no idea they would be encountering resistance of that magnitude. Now, turning to more recent matters..." He looked over at the sad mess of wood and glass that lay in a heap on the carpet, "... I wonder what that counts for? Breaking a decoy photo, insubordination, assault..."

Naruto hid a nervous grin, he knew the code. "Compensational info, you horny bastard?" He tried to hide his abject worry over his nurse as he began thinking of all the wonderful, illicit things his friend had a taste for. "Word around the plaza's that Temari's thinking of joining in with us permanently. Her brother's given her the okay, thinks she'll be better out on the field."

"Verifiable?"

"Shikamaru confirmed it. She talks in her sleep." Naruto chuckled, waggling his eyebrows.

Sasuke smirked, "And here I thought he was so lazy he couldn't get it up."

"We learn something new everyday."

–

Sakura was slightly surprised to see Tenten in her new quarters (The cigarette-smoking grump she'd encountered on the lift had scrawled out the directions on the back of a rollup paper after she'd spent twenty minute wandering the corridors.) but was too drained to give more than a passing 'unh' before falling onto the clean and slightly cool sheets on what was presumably her bed. She was dazed, but she glimpsed faint beams of moonlight traversing through a dusty window. At least there was something natural around here.

"Ain't 'inata gin' 'through yer?" Sakura mumbled into her pillow, holding its soft surface to her flushed face. Tenten coughed and mumbled something about there being an accident and that she'd be away for a little while.

"N't dead, ishe?"

The brown-bunned girl only laughed and said that it wasn't that serious. But since they were roommates, maybe she'd like to at least change into something that wouldn't cover the sheets in dust?

"W're you sleepin'?"

Tenten giggled. "On the other side, silly."

"Othasideawat?"

"... The bed."

_That _was enough to wake Sakura up, trauma and fatigue notwithstanding. "Uh, Tenten, while I'm grateful for the tea and the nice talks and everything... I, uh, I kinda don't really... _like_ you like that, so maybe... uh..." She frowned as Tenten snorted and began to curl in on herself, shoulders bouncing from the effort of restraining her laughter. "Oh god, I'd rather sleep with you than Sasuke, but it's getting pretty close."

"Not like that, you idiot." Tenten wiped her eyes, still giggling, "Everyone's gotta share up, it's better than hotbunking and it lets you reorganize your social life in a pitiful manner." She huffed as she went into a large dresser and shuffled into some baggy sleepwear behind the dresser doors. "They allowed first timers the chance to have co-sex bedrooms, but there was too much in the way of rape and severed penises, so management just said fuck the whole thing and made it same sex." She walked out, holding a similar pair of pants and a clean shirt, handing them to Sakura. "You'll get your clothes issued tomorrow, don't worry if they stink a little of flowers."

As she got changed, a thought hit Sakura. "I didn't think you were the type to... y'know, be with flowers and stuff."

"It's not me." Tenten was already curled away from her in the double bed, "My boyfriend's crazy over his hair products. Hinata's half brother or something, I never bothered to find out."

"Doesn't sound like you're very interested in him."

"I am, I just prefer him when he keeps his mouth shut. Fate this, Destiny that... Eh. G'night." With that, Tenten settled in further and only spoke up again to sarcastically remind Sakura to turn off the light. Sakura was somewhat filled with Schadenfreude that she wasn't the only person who appeared to have had a bad day. With that in her head, and her body wrapped up in half a duvet and sheets that still smelled of washing powder, Sakura drifted fitfully into slumber.

–

"**Accept**ed, plea**se continue** through th**e gate.**"

Sasori nodded as he and the two figures that flanked him began walking the footpath towards the Reception block of the Eurocorp central administration, retrieving his guest card as he went. The building loomed high, taller than a titan and doubly as imposing; the slimmer figure beside the redhead smirked at the wandering searchlights and the green lamps visible through the lower-ranked employees.

"Now now, as fronts go, this is rather impressive." Sasori reproached the figure, eyeing the concrete reinforcments and the many, many cameras stationed around the premise. "Built like a fortress, built to last... I can only approve. Now, let's go see if young mister Uchiha is in, shall we?"

"So long as we don't have to tangle with his brother. Guy gives me the creeps." The slim one spoke as they walked, the other, unidentfied figure floating behind them.

"Oh, come now. It's not like we'd show up for Itachi for anything less than war, yes?"

"What, ruin the wonderous calamity of war with his weaselly face? Let's just go in and surprise the little shit, un."

"My words exactly."


End file.
